ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To elucidate the causative factors in infantile esotropia, we evaluated morphological abnormalities in brain structures of esotropia patients showing any abnormal neurological signs in comparison to those of normal controls. METHODS: Sixty-five developmentally normal children participated in this study. Of these 65, 38 demonstrated infantile esotropia and 27 were normal controls. All underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain between 2 and 30 months. RESULTS: Abnormal brain findings were noted in 3 (7. 9%) children in the strabismus group, whereas none of the children in the normal control group showed brain lesions. In these 3 cases, brain lesions involved periventricular leukomalacia, enlargement of the lateral ventricles with hypoplasia of the corpus callosum and myelination delay at the anterior horn adjacent to the lateral ventricles. CONCLUSIONS: Brain lesions that may disturb normal maturation of the visuomotor system and eventually lead to strabismus could be found in some patients without any episode that would cause birth injury.