Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose:Children and especially infants are often difficult to examine. The clinical set-up appears children-unfriendly, not allowing a child getting used to the unknown situation within a restricted time-schedule being given by the examiner. As a result, children seem uncooperative and difficult to examine. This contributes to uncertainty in the already difficult area of strabismus and amblyopia-diagnosis and therapy in children. We therefore like to describe an easy to carry-out test in strabismus diagnosis and follow-up. The test makes use of the natural defence of close hand and body-contact. Methods: The so called provoked preference test (PPT) was developed by watching the natural defence reaction of very young children during examinations like the cover / uncover test. This reaction is used to carry out the test. 100 Children (mean age 24months, 50 male, 50 female) were examined using PPT. One week later, the examination was repeated using the usual cover / uncover test. All examinations were carried out by the same experienced orthoptist. The children were presented randomized with no name to the orthoptist to reduce the possibility of a bias as much as possible. The time to carry out both tests was taken. Results: PPT and the cover / uncover test detected strabism in the same cases. PPT was significantly less time consuming (p<0.0001) than the cover uncover test. Conclusion: PPT is a simple test to detect strabism. It is easier to carry out than the cover / uncover test, is faster and delivers comparable results in the detection of strabism as the cover uncover test.
Keywords: 589 strabismus: diagnosis and detection • 588 strabismus • 591 strabismus: treatment