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Radiotherapy alone not effective in treating thyroid myopathy, study finds
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LONDON — Orbital radiotherapy alone appears to be ineffective in treating restrictive thyroid myopathy and improving binocular function, according to a study.
Researchers here with Moorfields Eye Hospital conducted a retrospective review of 79 patients who underwent orbital radiotherapy for thyroid eye disease between 1992 and 1998. Of the 79 patients, 27 had diplopia in primary position or a significantly reduced binocular field before undergoing radiotherapy. Fields of binocular single vision were analyzed pretreatment and at 3, 12 and 24 months after therapy.
None of the 12 patients with double vision in primary position before treatment regained a central binocular field with radiotherapy alone. Of the 15 patients with a central but reduced binocular field, eight patients (53%) remained unchanged with treatment, four patients (27%) showed an improvement in the field and three patients (20%) showed deterioration in the field. Twelve patients (44%) required strabismus surgery.
The study is published in the Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.