Dr. Pedro Beleza – Serviço de Neurologia / Hospital São Marcos Largo Carlos Amarante, Apartado 2242 4701-965 Braga Portugal. E-mail: [email protected] In multiple sclerosis (MS), ocular motor disturbances such as nystagmus or internuclear ophthalmoplegia are frequent and their pathophysiological processes are relatively well known. On the contrary, other rare and not so well studied manifesta...

The authors describe a 38-year-old woman with stiff person syndrome (SPS) and gaze-holding nystagmus, limited abduction, vertical and horizontal ocular misalignment, deficient smooth pursuit, and impaired saccade initiation. There was no evidence of ocular myasthenia, indicating that abnormalities of ocular motor function can occur as a primary manifestation of SPS, perhaps from depletion of GABA.

Abnormal eye movements in multiple sclerosis (MS) are often persistent and known to be associated with general disability. However, there is no precise knowledge concerning their incidence and resulting visual handicap. The aim of our study was to describe the persistent ocular motor manifestations in MS and relate them to visual functions tested with visual acuity and with a vision-related que...

Amblyopia is the most common cause of monocular visual loss in children, affecting 1.3%-3.6% of children. Current treatments are effective in reducing the visual acuity deficit but many amblyopic individuals are left with residual visual acuity deficits, ocular motor abnormalities, deficient fine motor skills, and risk for recurrent amblyopia. Using a combination of psychophysical, electrophysi...

Good visual acuity in the presence of the high-velocity oscillations of pendular nystagmus requires that the ocular motor system be capable of reliable and repeat­ able foveation of the target. The ability of the ocular motor system to acquire a tar­ get, despite these ongoing oscillations, requires seamless interaction between the smooth pursuit (SP) and saccadic subsystems. In a previous mode...

Attempts to simulate dysfunction within ocular motor system (OMS) models capable of exhibiting known ocular motor behavior have provided valuable insight into the structure of the OMS required for normal visual function. The pendular waveforms of congenital nystagmus (CN) appear to be quite complex, composed of a sustained sinusoidal oscillation punctuated by braking saccades and foveating sacc...