What Are the Clinical Features of Idiopathic Infantile Nystagmus?

Discussion Nystagmus is “…an involuntary, periodic eye movement caused by a slow drift of fixation. This drift may be followed by a fast refixation saccade…or a slow movement back to fixation….” The pathological movement is the slow phase, but nystagmus is described by the fast phase (i.e. horizontal nystagmus, vertical nystagmus). Both eyes usually move synchronously. Patients may turn or tilt their heads to improve visual acuity. Nystagmus is categorized into 3 groupings – physiologic such as gaze evoked, caloric or opto-kinetic nystagmus, acquired such as neurological or ophthalmological diseases, or infantile nystagmus. Infantile is sometimes referred to as congenital because the onset occurs at birth or during infancy. Full opthalmological evaluation of nystagmus or other abnormal eyes movements is appropriate as is the necessary followup. Warning signs include neurological signs such as nausea, vertigo or any focal defects, onset age after 4 months, asymmetric nystagmus, focal ophthalmological signs such as papilledema or pupillary defects, oscillopsia (i.e. visual field objects appear to oscillate), nystagmus that is asymmetric, and preserved opto-kinetic nystagmus (i.e. nystagmus induced by looking at objects moving across the visual field). These signs are more consistent with an acquired nystagmus and not infantile nystagmus. Learning Point Prevalence of infantile nystagmus is difficult to ascertain but studies have estimated it...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news