Background and purpose: Congenital nystagmus (CN) is an ocular oscillation that usually manifests during early infancy. Typical features of CN include bilateral, conjugate, uniplanar, and usually horizontal eye movements, a null position, increased oscillation during fixation, and decreased amplitude during convergence. Our purposes were description and analysis of clinical and oculomotor findings of patients with X-linked familial CN.
Methods: We describe the clinical and oculographic features of five patients from three families with X-linked CN. Three-dimensional video-oculography disclosed various patterns of CN and variable degrees of gaze-holding deficits and visual impairments.
Results: The features of CN varied even in patients from the same family. Head tilt, strabismus, reversal of optokinetic nystagmus, and impairments of the vestibulo-ocular reflex, smooth pursuits, and saccades were frequent findings.
Conclusions: The intra- and interfamilial diversities imply that heredity plays a secondary role in determining the clinical phenotypes and waveforms of CN.
Keywords: Congenital nystagmus; Video-oculography.