Nystagmus

[Ms. Kathy]

I must include this condition as many of my kids have varying eye conditions which are accompanied by nystagmus. This is the involuntary jerky movement of the eyes. Years ago people would say those with nystagmus had "dancing eyes."

Because of this movement visual acuity can be lowered. It may take a child with a nystagmus longer to read and write and their eyes may tire more quickly. In your child's IEP accomodations, ask that her teachers either allow more time to complete work or shorten the amount of work at one sitting.

Glasses generally do not correct nystagmus and the movement may be constant or intermittent. Increased movement may be caused by emotion, repetitive visual patterns or fatigue. I use to be able to tell if one of my kids was telling the truth by how much his eyes moved involuntarily.

Totally blind children can also have nystagmus.

To read a short defintion go to www.kathyskids.org/aboutus.html

or for more info see:

health.yahoo.com/centers/eye_vision/003037

[Ms. Kathy]

ThePittsburghChannel.com
Surgery Can Correct Wiggling Eye Condition

POSTED: 4:06 pm EST November 1, 2006
UPDATED: 5:00 pm EST November 1, 2006

The following is a transcript of a report by medical editor Marilyn Brooks that first aired Sept. 1, 2006, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.


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Have you ever noticed how your eyes involuntarily move side to side when you drive past a series of telephone poles? It stops once the poles are gone, but hundreds of people can't stop that herky-jerky eye movement.

Now, there may be help for children with this problem.

It's called nystagmus. It's characterized by involuntary eye movement which can reduce vision. There are lots of causes, but I'm going to concentrate on congenital nystagmus, which strikes at birth or early infancy. Surgery can't cure it, but it can fix it.

Archie Kenyon is only 3 years old. His eyes are just a bit sore and swollen from surgery, but he is hanging tough. Archie has infantile nystagmus, a condition that can cause blindness and he and his mother traveled from England for the surgery.

"When he was born, he couldn't see anything," said Claire Kenyon. "I was waving lights in his face, and he couldn't fix on it at all."

"These children, their visual systems are not completely normal both the ability to see and the ability to move the eye," said Dr. Richard Hertle.

The result is uncontrolled wiggling of the eyes. Patients tilt their head to a position where the eyes wiggle least, still, untreated, their limited vision and balance can limit education, employment and life.

Archie's mother hopes surgery can avoid that, but first Archie had special tests.

Goggles called ocular motor electrophysiology or eye movement recording use sensors that allow the ophthalmologist to record eye rhythm. By doing that, doctors can determine the brain's malfunction, which is where the real problem happens to be.

Graphs show the right and left eye movement. Hertle corrects the problem by surgically repositioning the eyes by cutting three of six tiny muscles that control each eye's movement.

"We take a small hook, put it under the muscle to lift it up, then I put a stitch through it, cut it off and move it to a new position," said Hertle.

Cutting the muscle slows the nystagmus. Moving it changes the eye position. Archie will see double for 24 after the operation, but it should go away and his vision is expected to improve in days.

Surgically repositioning the eye is nothing new, but it is controversial and not accepted in England. Hertle has spent years of research on the surgery, and found that it does improve vision. Reportedly one of the leading international authorities on nystagmus, Hertle is now seeing six to 10 patients a week from all over the world and operating on two to five each week.
Copyright 2006 by ThePittsburghChannel.

[Ms. Kathy]

SOURCE: content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/24/e26

Abnormal Eye Movements Associated with Unilateral Loss of Vestibular Function

Acute unilateral loss of peripheral vestibular function causes spontaneous nystagmus that is horizontal and torsional, with slow phases directed toward the abnormal ear. The nystagmus results from an imbalance in tonic activity between the two vestibular nerves. Initially, nystagmus is present during visual fixation (content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/24/e26/DC1Video Clip 1), but after several days, visual mechanisms suppress the nystagmus and it is evident only if fixation is eliminated. After several weeks, adaptation leads to a rebalancing of central vestibular tone, and spontaneous nystagmus resolves. In the chronic state, the vestibular deficit is observed only when the labyrinth is activated with head motion. Horizontal head shaking causes an asymmetric "storage" of vestibular signals in the brain, resulting in transient nystagmus when the head shaking ends. The head-thrust test assesses the vestibulo-ocular reflex (Video Clip 1), which normally keeps the eyes still during head movement. The response to this test also remains chronically abnormal with the loss of peripheral vestibular function, as evidenced by corrective eye movements when the head is rotated toward the abnormal ear.

[Ms. Kathy]

British scientists study nystagmus
{source: www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20061213-15423800-bc-britain-eyedisease.xml}

LEICESTER, England, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Scientists at Britain's University of Leicester have identified a gene that causes nystagmus, a distressing eye disease.

Nystagmus causes the eyes to move in an uncontrollable manner, so people with the condition cannot keep their eyes still. Nystagmus can be congenital or acquired later in life due to neurological disease.

Professor Irene Gottlob, director of the university's ophthalmology group, said: "The discovery of this gene will make a genetic test for idiopathic X-linked nystagmus possible. So far it has not been understood what the causes of nystagmus are. The discovery of the gene will lead to greater understanding about the protein which is abnormal in nystagmus."

The researchers are also investigating other eye movement problems, such those related to schizophrenia and amblyopia.

The research findings are explained in the journal Nature Genetics.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

[Ms. Kathy]

Nystagmus
Source: AJNR www.ajnr.org/cgi/content/full/28/1/3

Nystagmus is a rhythmic oscillating movement of the eyes. Two types of nystagmus may be seen. The first is a jerk nystagmus in which there is a slow phase and a fast "jerk" phase in the opposite direction. Pendular nystagmus consists of only one phase of movements in a sinusoidal pattern. Nystagmus may either congenital or acquired. Congenital nystagmus will present shortly after birth. It is horizontal, even in upgaze and downgaze. Patients will exhibit a head turn to move their eyes to the "null position," which will dampen the amplitude of the nystagmus. In addition, it may be dampened by convergence. Spasmus nutans is a congenital nystagmus that typically presents between 4 and 14 months of age and disappears by age 5. It is associated with a clinical triad of head nodding, head tilt, and monocular nystagmus. Although spasmus nutans is typically a benign condition, it is important to exclude a chiasmal glioma, which is typically seen in association with vision loss.

There are several types of acquired nystagmus, which can be well-localized within the central nervous system (Table 4). Seesaw nystagmus may be seen in lesions involving the midbrain and parasellar region (pituitary tumor or craniopharyngioma). It appears clinically as a conjugate pendular elevation and intorsion of one eye with depression and extorsion of the opposite eye. In the setting of parasellar lesions, a bitemporal hemianopsia may also be seen. Downbeat nystagmus is seen in disorders affecting the cervicomedullary junction. Conditions causing downbeat nystagmus include Arnold-Chiari malformations, skull base tumors, spinocerebellar degenerations, and toxic metabolic conditions such as medication toxicity (specifically phenytoin, carbamazepine, and lithium). Periodic alternating nystagmus is another condition localizing to the cervicomedullary junction. It is characterized by a horizontal jerk nystagmus in one direction for 90 seconds, no nystagmus for 10 seconds, and then recurrent horizontal jerk nystagmus in the opposite direction for 90 seconds. It may be seen in association with a downbeat nystagmus. Dissociated nystagmus may be seen in lesions involving the medial longitudinal fasciculus, as is most commonly seen in internuclear ophthalmoplegias. It appears as a nystagmus of the abducting eye, which appears to be a corrective phase to "catch up" with the contralateral adducting eye. Convergence retraction nystagmus has been described in the setting of Parinaud syndrome and is associated with dorsal midbrain lesions.

[Ms. Kathy]

American Journal of Neuroradiology 28:392-393, February 2007
© 2007 American Society of Neuroradiology

Source Link: www.ajnr.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/2/392
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Case Report
PEDIATRICS

Isolated Absence of the Optic Chiasm: A Rare Cause of Congenital Nystagmus
T.J. Biegaa, Z.P. Khademianb and G. Vezinab
a Department of Neuroradiology, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC
b Department of Radiology, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, DC

Please address correspondence to: Zarir P. Khademian, MD, Children’s National Medical Center-Radiology, 111 Michigan Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20010-2970; e-mail: [e-mail]

SUMMARY: The cases presented are rare examples of congenital nystagmus associated with isolated absence of the optic chiasm. MR imaging in both patients demonstrated unremarkable anterior optic pathways and optic tracts. No additional midline central nervous system abnormalities, migrational anomalies, space-occupying lesions, or destructive processes were noted. These cases demonstrate that the achiasmatic syndrome should be included in the differential diagnosis of congenital nystagmus and may be overlooked without careful MR imaging evaluation.

[Ms. Kathy]

These marathon runners are on fire!
17 April 2007

FOUR firemen will swap their engines for trainers when they take part in the Flora London Marathon on Sunday.

Dave Egan, Scott Jones, Keith Rand and Peter Richards will be among the thousands raising money for various charitable causes when they attempt the 26.2-mile course.

Starting from Greenwich, south east London, the foursome will cross the capital and finish at Green Park, near Westminster.

Keith, 40, of Louise Gardens, South Hornchurch, will be running his third London Marathon in aid of 10-year-old daughter Ellie, who suffers from Nystagmus, a genetic eye disease which can cause acute long or short-sightedness.

Part of Shoreditch Fire Station's Green Watch, the firefighter of 14 years will run for The Nystagmus Network. The dad-of-three is determined to complete it despite suffering a trapped nerve.

"Nystagmus is a little-known condition which does not receive much funding support," he said. "So I am definitely going to run it, even if I have to hop!"


Source Link: Romford Recorder 24 www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/content/havering/recorder/news/story.aspx?brand=RECOnline&category=newsRomford&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsromford&itemid=WeED17%20Apr%202007%2017%3A32%3A30%3A953