THE SQUINT ANGLE AND ELONGATION OF THE LA TERAL RECTUS MUSCLE UNDER GENERAL-ANESTHESIA IN PRIMARY ESOTROPIA

Purpose In a group of 34 patients with esotropia, the anesthetic sign was studied in order to decide on the selection of the eye that should be initially operated. It is based on the examination of the variatio n between the angle while the patient is awake and the angle under gen eral anesthesia applied with a definite protocole. The operated eye wa s always the most convergent or the less divergent one under general a nesthesia. Method During the operation the elongation of the medial an d lateral recti belonging to the operated eye were systematically meas ured by Rapp-Roth myometer and Pechereau ruler. Results In 58% of case s, the examination under general anesthesia revealed an equivalent dev iation of the dominated and dominant eyes form the midline. In 19% of cases convergence was obvious in the dominant eye while it existed in the dominated eyes in 23% of cases. Conclusion It is concluded that a significant relationship exists between the basic angle and the variat ion of the angle under general anesthesia as well as between the basic angle and the elongation of the lateral rectus. Besides, this study p oints out the absence of relationship between the angle under general anesthesia and the elongation of the lateral rectus as well as the elo ngation of the two recti.