Superior oblique tucking for treatment of superior oblique palsy.

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy and safety of isolated superior oblique tucking in the treatment of congenital superior oblique palsy.

Methods: Twenty-one patients with unilateral congenital superior oblique palsy and lax superior oblique tendon underwent isolated superior oblique tucking and retrospective analysis of the amount of tucking procedure, preoperative and postoperative vertical deviation in the primary position and reading position, abnormal head posture, ocular motility, and corrected objective torsion. Patients were evaluated before and 6 to 12 months after surgery.

Results: The average vertical deviation in the primary position was 10.9 ± 3.3 prism diopters (PD) before surgery and 1.5 ± 2.6 PD after surgery (n = 21, P < .05). The average vertical deviation in the reading position was 15.6 ± 3.6 PD before surgery and 2.6 ± 3.1 PD after surgery (P < .05). The average corrected vertical deviation was 9.9 ± 3.2 PD in the primary position and 13.0 ± 3.4 PD in the reading position (P < .05). The amount of tucking ranged from 5 to 12 mm (mean: 8.3 ± 2.3 mm), which was not related to the corrected vertical deviation in the primary and reading positions, the preoperative vertical deviation in the reading position, or the corrected objective torsion. After surgery, all patients had head posture that was normal or less than 5°. Unremarkable superior oblique underaction and negative head tilt test were found in all patients after surgery. All patients had mild Brown syndrome after surgery, but none were symptomatic.

Conclusions: Isolated superior oblique tucking is an efficient and safe procedure for treatment of superior oblique palsy with hyperdeviation less than 15 PD in the primary position and remarkable superior oblique underaction. The superior oblique forced duction test was the most important criterion for planning surgery.