Abstract
Strabismus occurs in about 2% of children and may result in amblyopia or lazy eyes and loss of depth perception. However, whether/how long-term strabismus shapes the brain structure and functions in children with concomitant strabismus (CS) is still unclear. In this study, a total of 26 patients with CS and 28 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging examination. The cortical thickness and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) were calculated to assess the structural and functional plasticity in children with CS. Compared with HCs group, patients with CS showed increased cortical thickness in the precentral gyrus and angular gyrus while decreased cortical thickness in the left intraparietal sulcus, parieto-occipital sulcus, superior and middle temporal gyrus, right ventral premotor cortex, anterior insula, orbitofrontal cortex, and paracentral lobule. Meanwhile, CS patients exhibited increased ALFF in the prefrontal cortex and superior temporal gyrus, and decreased ALFF in the caudate and hippocampus. These results show that children with CS have abnormal structure and function in brain regions subserving eye movement, controls, and high-order cognitive functions. Our findings revealed the structural and functional abnormalities induced by CS and may provide new insight into the underlying neural mechanisms for CS.
Highlights
Concomitant strabismus (CS) is the most common type of strabismus and is characterized by an equal angle of ocular misalignment in all fields of gaze, regardless of which eye is used for fixation ocular motility disorders (Robaei et al, 2006)
Twenty-eight healthy controls (HCs) who were closely matched in age, gender, and education level with patients with concomitant strabismus (CS) were recruited through advertisements
There were no significant correlations between altered cortical thickness, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) values, and disease duration, Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), and Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale (MoCA) scores
Summary
Concomitant strabismus (CS) is the most common type of strabismus and is characterized by an equal angle of ocular misalignment in all fields of gaze, regardless of which eye is used for fixation ocular motility disorders (Robaei et al, 2006). CS develops most commonly in early childhood and presents with abnormal eye position and poor stereopsis (Oystreck and Lyons, 2012). Children with CS often suffer from several psychosocial and emotional consequences, for example, negative social bias, increased social anxiety, and poor interpersonal relationship (Archer et al, 2005). Beyond the clinical data, the pathological mechanisms underlying CS remain unclear. It is urgently needed to deepen the current understanding of the etiology of CS, which may provide new clues of the planning of the surgery.
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