Divergence Insufficiency/Excess | Vision Therapy Paducah Kentucky Divergence Insufficiency and Divergence Excess Symptom Checklist Vision Therapy: Alex's Success Story | Wow Vision Therapy Share Watch on Share this: Twitter Facebook Like this: Loading. Supported by It is an unusual form of strabismus with esotropia and diplopia only at distance and single binocular vision at near. 2012. I prescribed glasses (+3.00 sph OD, +2.25 sph OS) for the patient, and she returned for follow-up care, eventually patching and undergoing vision therapy for her amblyopia. Educating patients on the benefits of prism wear is key in helping get them on board in these cases. Surgical effect was assessed immediately by sitting the patient up and repeating the measurements at near and distance. Near point of convergence (NPC) is measured by bringing an object to the nose and observing when the patient sees double, or one eye deviates . MEBarrows A Maddox rod was also used to determine the near point of orthophoria in most patients. 5. Divergence insufficiency can vary in severity, from minor deficits to complete divergence paralysis. Convergence insufficiency (CI) is a vision disorder. Visual loss in pseudotumor cerebri: follow-up of 57 patients from five to 41 years and a profile of 14 patients with permanent severe visual loss. By continuing to use our site, or clicking "Continue," you are agreeing to our, Clinical Features of Patients With Primary and Secondary Divergence Insufficiency, Disorders Associated With Secondary Divergence Insufficiency. The preferred method for prescribing prism for vertical heterophoria is determining the vertical associated phoria.12 This can be done at near using the Wesson card or at distance. Ghanchi Individuals with divergence insufficiency often have a low AC/A ratio with a high near point of convergence. Blurred vision. Lewis In fact, when the vergence system is struggling, the accommodative system often picks up the slack and becomes overworked, which can also play a role in some of the symptoms of eye strain, fatigue, and headaches. 133. What are causes of convergence insufficiency? 1. Committee on Aging. Horizontal conjugate deviation of the eyes may be found with acute lesions of either hemisphere or the brainstem. Define divergence insufficiency. Kirkham Smith SHarbison Vision therapy exercises aimed at strengthening and normalizing accommodation can be found in Part 4 of this series. Patients with primary divergence insufficiency were those who had no other neurologic symptoms or signs, and patients with secondary divergence insufficiency were those who had additional symptoms or signs of neurologic dysfunction. SDiagnosis and management of divergence weakness in adults. This problem is most commonly found in children. Retrospective case reviews of patients with an acquired hyper deviation secondary to a superior oblique palsy found that 76% to 92% of participants were successfully treated with prism alone.5,6. RJZee Posted by . Primary divergence insufficiency is generally a benign condition. Vectograms use an approach called the SILO affect to work on increasing divergence or convergence ranges. Fresnel membrane prisms can be very useful for many aspects of prescribing prism. reported a series of 57 patients underwent unilateral lateral rectus resection for distance esotropia deviations of 530 with 96.5% did not require further surgery.[11]. The clinical neurologic evaluation is a powerful tool that distinguishes those with a primary disorder from those harboring an underlying neurologic or systemic condition. During the total period of follow-up, none of the patients developed an alternative neurologic disorder. Demer JL. Questions: 125. Many affected patients experience spontaneous resolution of double vision within several months. Although no unsuspected neurologic disorder surfaced during the period of follow-up in these patients, I strongly recommend that a patient with isolated divergence insufficiency be followed closely to detect, for example, signs of developing intracranial hypertension or abducens nerve palsy. Jampolsky In many of these cases, the initial management strategy is prescribing vertical prism.1 Often, if the vertical deviation is decreased or eliminated, the patient may be able to comfortably fuse the horizontal deviation. The tool itself can be calibrated to work on increasing divergence or convergence, depending on, Our eye doctors at Wilmington Family Eye Care in Wilmington, DE excel in prescription of glasses, contact lenses and the diagnosis of a variety of eye diseases. PMDivergence paralysis. an electromyographic study. 2005;9:36. She was able to fuse on the Worth Dot test with 12 PDs base-out and 3 PDs base-up OD. If a patient sees four dots in free space or gives a diplopia response but is able to fuse with prism, perform a unilateral cover test. All patients had undergone a general neurologic examination by a board-certified neurologist (D.M.J.). is variable. What Are the Symptoms of Convergence Insufficiency? The distance at which diplopia occurs is noted (near point of convergence). J Neuroophthalmol. If the patient is still symptomatic, combining prism and vision therapy may help improve convergence and divergence ranges. Divergence insufficiency is a benign phenomenon causing horizontal diplopia at distance viewing . LRosenbaum Of the 20 patients with primary divergence insufficiency, 19 (95%) were older than 50 years. MBSavitsky 129. [4]A dense band iss present from the medial rectus to the inferior pulleys (MRIR band) and from the medial rectus to the superior rectus pulleys (MRSR band). The mechanical properties of pulleys are critical for the support and rotational properties of the eye. No unsuspected CT or MRI abnormality was identified in those patients whose only presenting neurologic symptom and sign was double vision and divergence insufficiency. 2012;49(4):222-8. RMDiagnosis and management of divergence paresis. Convergence Insufficiency. The patient will wear a pair of polarizing glasses (similar to what is worn in modern 3-D movies) to create depth within the image (stereopsis). along with the fusional vergence system to create a 3-D object. The opposite of divergence insufficiency is divergence excess. Relieving prism is often prescribed for patients with intermittent strabismus and sometimes for those with constant strabismus. Trans Am Ophthalmol Soc. Patients may also present with ductional deficits depending on the grade of muscle displacement. American Academy of Ophthalmology. In some circumstances, individuals with convergence insufficiency will also suffer from high exophoria or exotropia, meaning the eyes like to sit in an outward position. This page was last edited on January 26, 2023, at 08:42. LMDivergence paralysis with increased intracranial pressure: further observations. [12]Later Chaudhuri and Demer reported 24 patients and compared the results of those undergoing lateral rectus resection (n = 8) to those undergoing medial rectus recession (n = 16). Divergence insufficiency is associated with systemic and neurological disorders, so we must rule out any underlying conditions that may be causing it. Since most of the patients have good fusional capacities they do not experience double vision for near with that said these patient can likely manage without the need for intervention. The characteristics of the patients in this series who have an idiopathic disorder suggest that if certain rules of diagnosis are obeyed, divergence insufficiency can be distinguished from sixth cranial nerve palsy in most cases using clinical techniques. More respect for connective tissues. 2000;118(9):12371241. While none of the patients had other symptoms to suggest giant cell arteritis or myasthenia gravis, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (performed in 7 patients) and acetylcholine receptor antibody assay (performed in 6 patients) were tested, and the results were normal in all. R. London. These conditions that affect convergence or divergence may cause symptoms such as seeing double at near or far while viewing an object. It can also be seen with head trauma, intracranial hypotension, cerebellar lesions, and a midbrain mass. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. will be pushed inward, making the image smaller, will be pulled outward, making the image larger, Increasing or decreasing the distance between the two. 127. Effectiveness of prisms in the management of diplopia in patients due to diverse etiologies. Bothun ED, Archer SM. These studies were unrevealing in all patients. It produces symptoms of asthenopia, fatigue with reading, diplopia at near, and intermittent blurred vision when reading. Esodeviation is comitant in all fields of . Strabismus. New York, NY Oxford University Press1999;405-610. After identifying a patient who stands to benefit from a prism prescription, the next step is deciding how much prism to prescribe. Signs typical of divergence insufficiency were identified in 9 patients without intracranial hypertension (Table 2), including 2 with temporal arteritis. What is convergence spasm? Magnetic resonance imaging did not identify hydrocephalus or involvement of the lesion along the anatomic course of the abducens nerve. Strabismus. A Maddox rod was the tool used to assess ocular comitancy in this study, but other methods exist, including prism-cover techniques, the Hess chart, and the Lancaster red-green test. Classically convergence spasm is nonorganic. changing the target) or by using multiple vectograms and making the patient look from one to another and quickly adapting the vergence system appropriately to each target (this is called jumping vectograms). DIVERGENCE INSUFFICIENCY :- Divergence insufficiency refers to a clinically defined acquired disorder of ocular horizontal version . Dr. Jenewein is an assistant professor at Salus University, Salus Universitys Principal Site Investigator for the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group, a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and a Diplomate of the Binocular Vision, Perception and Pediatric Optometry Section of the Academy. The additional literature on the subject of divergence insufficiency largely consists of small series of patients mainly reported in the precomputed tomography (CT) era and patients with neurologically isolated divergence insufficiency mixed with those who additionally had other signs of intracranial hypertension or a structural brain lesion.15,18-21 The purpose of my study was to describe a large series of patients with divergence insufficiency evaluated in the post-CT era to determine the natural history of neurologically isolated cases, to determine the spectrum of neurologic associations, and to identify clinical features that might be helpful in distinguishing those patients with an isolated disorder from those harboring neurologic disorders. Strabismus, or hypertropia, is a condition when one or both of the eyes are not properly aligned. Histologic studies showed that each rectus pulley consists of an encircling ring of collagen located near the globe equator in tenon fascia, coupled to the orbital wall, adjacent EOMs, and equatorial Tenon fascia by bands containing densely woven collagen, elastin, and smooth muscle. What are causes of convergence insufficiency? Pang Y, Teitelbaum B, Krall J. Eight (40%) of the 20 patients recalled such an event, including a viral pro-drome in 3 patients, minor head trauma in 2 patients, and hospitalization for an unrelated illness in 3 pa-tients. Divergence Insufficiency Revisited: Natural History of Idiopathic Cases and Neurologic Associations | Neurology | JAMA Ophthalmology | JAMA Network ObjectivesTo determine the natural history of primary divergence insufficiency and to identify clinical features that distinguish patients with this neurologica [Skip to Navigation] Information obtained from direct telephone interviews with the patients and review of office records of referring physicians who continued to follow up some patients were included in the determination of follow-up. Histories reveal the possibility of a number of etiologic factors. 10. RDInternuclear ophthalmoplegia in giant cell arteritis. Convergence insufficiency is a common eye coordination problem in which the eyes drift outward when reading or doing near point work. Divergence insufficiency is the opposite problem of convergence insufficiency. Although younger patients may not be able to give good, subjective feedback, older children and adult patients should wear the trial prism set while engaging in an activity that normally causes them to experience diplopia or asthenopia (reading or distance viewing) to see if it eliminates diplopia and improves comfort.