Electrophysiological evidence of cortical fusion in children with early-onset esotropia.

PURPOSE

To investigate sensory fusion responses in infants and children with early-onset esotropia to gain insights into the sequence of events that leads to strabismus.

METHODS

Sensory fusion was tested by measuring visual evoked potential (VEP) responses to dynamic random dot correlograms (DRDCs) in a group of children (n = 23) with early-onset esotropia. Thirteen children were tested before surgical alignment, and 13 children were tested after surgical alignment (three children were tested before and after surgery). If the angle of strabismus was larger than 5 prism diopters, it was corrected with Fresnel prisms (Fresnel Prism and Lens, Scottsdale, AZ).

RESULTS

Five (38%) of the 13 children who were tested before surgery showed detectable VEP responses to correlogram stimuli compared with 11 (85%) of the 13 children who were tested after surgical alignment. There were no significant statistical differences between VEP responses to DRDCs from the postsurgery group and VEP responses from an age-matched control group with normal binocular vision.

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of cortical sensory fusion in children with early-onset esotropia suggests that a congenital defect of sensory fusion cannot be the root cause of esotropia in most children. The data suggest that sensory fusion, when measured by VEP responses to DRDCs, is more robust than stereopsis to abnormal binocular experience and support the notion that pathways processing correlated/anticorrelated stimuli may not completely overlap with pathways processing disparity information.