The role of surgical factors eliciting oculocardiac reflex of patients undergoing orbital tumor surgery: a retrospective study

Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2024 Apr;262(4):1295-1303. doi: 10.1007/s00417-023-06311-x. Epub 2023 Nov 11.

Abstract

Purpose: Orbital tumors are an interdisciplinary disease, and surgery is one of the main treatment methods. The oculocardiac reflex (OCR) is a condition of surgery for orbital tumors. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is an association between many surgical factors and the incidence of OCR in orbital tumor surgery.

Methods: Comparisons were made between patients with and without OCR using the Mann-Whitney test, Fisher's exact test, and Chi-square test. When comparing multiple groups (groups > 2), to explain which two groups had differences, post hoc testing was used for analysis, and the differences between groups were judged according to the adjusted standardized residuals.

Results: The results showed that the incidence of intraoperative OCR was different based on the different exposed operative field locations (p = 0.021). The OCR incidence in those with lesions involving the orbital apex and lesions adhering to extraocular muscles was higher than that of others (p < 0.001 and p = 0.003). In addition, multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that orbital apex involvement and extraocular muscle adhesion were highly associated with a higher incidence of OCR (p < 0.001 and p = 0.013), while the operative field located in the lateral-superior orbit was highly associated with a lower incidence of OCR (p = 0.029).

Conclusion: In orbital tumor surgery under general anesthesia, lesions involving the orbital apex and lesion adhesion to the extraocular muscles were independent risk factors for OCR, and an operative field located in the lateral-superior orbit was a protective factor for OCR.

Keywords: Medial rectus; Oculocardiac reflex; Orbital tumor; Retrospective study.

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Orbit / surgery
  • Orbital Neoplasms* / surgery
  • Reflex, Oculocardiac* / physiology
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Strabismus* / surgery