Final answer:
In clinical testing, if a patient with strabismus has difficulty maintaining mid-line gaze while looking left and right, it suggests problems in eye muscle coordination, often leading to conditions such as internuclear ophthalmoplegia and symptoms like diplopia. This abnormal response signifies that the extraocular muscles may not be moving in conjugation, which may require further investigation and treatment.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a patient with ocular rotary problems such as strabismus tries to look both left and right but their gaze veers off the mid-line, this behavior in a clinical test would be indicative of deficits in the coordination between the muscles that control eye movement. This can be due to several reasons, one of which is internuclear ophthalmoplegia, where there is a failure of one eye to abduct while the other adducts during horizontal movement, which often leads to diplopia, or double vision. Testing eye movement typically involves tracking the conjugate movements that represent the proper function of the related nuclei and the medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF). When these movements are asymmetrical or not properly conjugated, it indicates that the muscles are not working together as they should, and the person may experience symptoms such as double vision or have difficulty focusing on objects.
Visual field testing, on the other hand, can reveal different issues such as bilaterial hemianopia, when there is a loss of lateral peripheral vision often caused by problems outside the visual system itself, such as pressure from a pituitary growth on the optic chiasm. These different tests can help clinicians determine the underlying cause of vision problems and the most appropriate treatment strategy. Therefore, any abnormal response in such tests should be carefully analyzed to understand the specific impairment and to guide further diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.