The use of ultrasound biomicroscope in normal eye and some diseases of extraocular muscle

Objective To study the methods of application of ultrasound biomicroscope (UBM) in the diagnosis and treatment for the diseases of extraocular muscles.Methods The positions and thickness of 4 rectus muscle insertions were measured by UBM in 15 normal eyes,24 eyes of 12 patients with comitant strabismus,8 eyes of 4 cases with V-pattern and 12 eyes of 6 cases with thyroid-related immune orbito-pathy (TRIO).Results In 15 normal eyes,the average thickness of the insertions of 4 rectus muscles (medial,lateral,superior and inferior) were ( 0.38± 0.06)mm,( 0.40± 0.10)mm,( 0.36± 0.08)mm,( 0.44± 0.05)mm,respectively.There were no significant differences in the thickness of the insertions among the same rectus muscles of the bilateral eyes and between the medial and lateral rectus muscles of one eye (P 0.05),except the thickness of the insertions of the superior rectus muscle thinner than that of the inferior rectus (P= 0.002).In the comparison between the normal eyes and the comitant strabismus eyes,there were no significant differences in thickness of the insertions of rectus muscles (P 0.05),except the thickening of the superior rectus muscle in the comitant strabismus eye (P= 0.028).In the patients with strabismus,the thickness of the insertion of the superior rectus was thinner than that of the inferior rectus (P= 0.002).It was confirmed that the position of the lateral rectus muscle was deviated downward and the medial rectus muscle was deviated upward in the V pattern strabismus.It was demonstrated that the rectus insertions were increased in thickness in various degrees in TRIO.In cases with the absence of extraocular muscle,only could a very thin reflective echo be detected at the ocular anterior segment by UBM.Conclusions The application of UBM with other images methods may provide more ways for clinicians to study the pathogenesis of strabismus,and help an operator to design strabismus surgery reasonably.