Aims To compare the surgical outcomes of exotropia patients with cerebral palsy (CP) and controls without CP.

Methods 30 patients with exotropia and CP and 60 age-matched controls without CP who underwent bilateral lateral rectus (BLR) recession were retrospectively enrolled. All patients underwent BLR recession according to Parks’ method. Surgical success was defined by esotropia deviation ≤5 PD (prism diopters) and exotropia deviation ≤10 PD. Success rate, cumulative probabilities of success, and postoperative change of angle deviations using a linear mixed model were evaluated.

Results Mean postoperative follow-up times were 21.60±8.62 months for the CP group and 25.60±10.82 months for the control group (p=0.081). Mean preoperative deviation was 30.97±10.54 PD in the CP group and 29.75±7.52 PD in the control group (p=0.530), which was reduced to 4.44±7.13 PD and 7.43±7.59 PD, respectively (p=0.093) after BLR recession. Using linear mixed model analysis, the estimated mean postoperative deviation of both groups was in the success range at all times tested. At the final visit, successful surgical outcomes were achieved in 76.7% of the CP group and 56.7% of the control group (p=0.179). Differences in the cumulative probability of surgical success were not statistically significant between the two groups (p=0.106, log rank test).

Conclusions CP patients with exotropia showed successful ocular alignment comparable to that of controls after BLR recession of at least 2 years.