Patients operated for Duane's retraction syndrome - overview of the results in the last 10 years

Background: The surgery in Duane's retraction syndrome is indicated only in patients where eyes are not straight in the primary position and the patient has to adopt an abnormal head posture to achieve fusion. Patients and methods: 12 patients (2 male, to female) were operated for Duane's retraction syndrome in the last to years at our clinic. All the patients had Duane's Type 1 (in 9 patients left eye was affected, in 2 right eye was affected, one had billateral Duane's syndrome). The visual acuity was normal in 7 of them. 5 of the patients had ambliopia, mostly because of anisometropia, 7 of the patiens were wearing hypermetropic correction, 2 had myopic correction, others were without glasses. The average angle before operation was +15.8 +/- 10.1 degrees. Results: The retroposition of internal rectus of the affected eye was done in all except one patient, 2 operations were needed in one patient. The average angle one year after operation was + 9.7 +/- 7.3 degrees, the angle at the last visit at our department was +10.4 +/- 7.5 degrees. The head posture was much better after the operation in most of them. Normal binocular functions (normal fusion or normal stereovision) was achieved in 8 out of 12 patients. Conclusions: In patients with Duane's retraction syndrome abnormal head posture is indication for surgery. After surgery there was smaller and stable angle of deviation in all our patients, they all had less problems with abnormal head posture.