Diplopia in the Younger Adult (≤65 Years Old) Compared With Older Adult (>65 Years Old) Population-Presentation, Progression, and Outcome.

BACKGROUND: Despite the impact of new-onset diplopia on the quality of life, there are few studies concerning new-onset diplopia in seniors. This study aimed to describe the epidemiology, etiology, prognosis, and outcome of different treatments in the older adults compared with younger adult patients presenting with new-onset binocular diplopia. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of patients ≥18 YO with new-onset binocular diplopia presenting between 2010 and 2021. Data collected included age at presentation, gender, duration of time since diplopia onset, imaging results, known trigger, etiology, treatment, and follow-up. RESULTS: Two hundred ten patients were included. Of them, 75 patients were ≤65 YO (35.7%, the "younger adult group") and 135 > 65 YO (64.3%, the "older adults group"). The common etiology in both groups was neurogenic (54.7% ≤ 65 vs 62.2% >65, P = 0.29). Cranial nerve palsies were more commonly microvascular in the older adults (96.0% vs 74.1%, P = 0.005), whereas tumor-related cranial nerve palsies were more frequent in younger adults (14.81% vs 2.04%, P = 0.03). A restrictive etiology was observed in 20% of younger adult compared with 11.1% of older adults group (P = 0.08). Sagging eye syndrome (SES) was the second most common etiology in the older adults group at 11.9%, compared with 1.3% in the younger adult group (P = 0.01). Decompensated phoria/tropia appeared in 16% of younger adult group compared with 11.9% of older adults (P = 0.4), with an obvious trigger (mostly cataract surgery) in the latter (80% older adults vs 20% younger adults, P = 0.019). Positive imaging findings were found in 46.7% of patients ≤65 compared with 25.3% of >65 (P = 0.01) and complete spontaneous resolution of diplopia was noted in 32.1% of the older adults compared with 11.8% of younger adults (P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Neurogenic diplopia was the most common etiology for both groups, but is more prominent in the older adults. Noticeable findings in the older adults were SES diagnosis, identification of triggers for impaired fusion/diplopia, and a paucity of positive findings in imaging results. It is important to know these differences not only for managing seniors better, but also to minimize symptoms of binocular diplopia after lens-related procedures.

[CASE SERIES OF EARLY NEUROIMAGING IN PATIENTS WITH VASCULAR RISK FACTORS AND ISOLATED SIX CRANIAL NERVE PALSY, DEMONSTRATING THE DILEMMA OF EARLY IMAGING].

INTRODUCTION: There are various etiologies for isolated third, fourth and sixth cranial nerve palsies. The most common etiology in adults aged 50 years and older with vascular risk factors such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hyperlipidemia, is microvascular ischemia. The role of early neuroimaging in older patients with vascular risk factors presenting with acute isolated ocular motor nerve palsy is controversial. AIMS: We present six cases of patients aged 50 years and older, with vascular risk factors, who suffered from acute isolated paralysis of the sixth nerve. All cases were diagnosed with a non-microvascular ischemia etiology. RESULTS: The identified etiologies included petroclival meningioma with involvement of the cavernous sinus, metastatic hepatoma, plasmacytoma, venous thrombosis, arterial-venous malformation and aneurysm. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the high cost and presumed low yield, early neuroimaging can change the clinical management in certain cases. DISCUSSION: Previous studies have found the yield of early neuroimaging in older vasculopathic patients with acute 4th or 6th cranial nerve palsies to be 1-15%. In spite of these reports, our cases demonstrate the need for early onset imaging in these cases.

Clinical profile of 80-year-old and older thyroid eye disease patients.

PURPOSE: Thyroid eye disease (TED), an autoimmune orbital disorder, follows a time-of-onset bimodal peak: 40-44 and 60-64 years for women, 45-49 and 65-69 years for men. TED, however, can also commence in old age. The study's purpose was to evaluate TED in octo- and nonagenarians. METHODS: Medical records of 19 ≥ 80 years geriatric patients at time of diagnosis were compared to 122 TED patients, aged 20-79. A second analysis was performed after subdividing the control group into two age groups, ≤ 40 ("young group," 16 patients) and 41-79 years ("middle-aged group," 106 patients). RESULTS: The geriatric group's mean age was 84 years (80-94), 11 males and 8 females. Mean follow-up time was 16 months. Compared to the controls, the geriatric patients smoked less (p = 0.012), were more often hypothyroid (p = 0.019), and had concurrent myasthenia gravis (p = 0.02) at time of diagnosis. Diplopia was the most common presenting symptom among the elderly (p = 0.005) and proptosis among the controls, specifically the young group (p = 0.027). Bilateral signs were more common among seniors (p = 0.049). Optic neuropathy was diagnosed in 10% of the geriatric group (2/19) and 11% of middle-aged group (12/106), all being resolved after steroids or orbital decompression. Active disease (clinical activity score (CAS) score = > 3) was more common among the middle-aged group (p = 0.024) while the geriatric patients tended towards higher TED severity grades. Orbital decompression and eyelid repositioning surgeries were more common among the middle-aged group. Strabismus surgeries were more common among seniors. CONCLUSIONS: TED among octo- and nonagenarians has unique patterns, with different demographic features, more exposed to diplopia, hypothyroidism, association with myasthenia gravis, and bilateral involvement. Special attention should be given when medically managing this subgroup.