Abstract
Purpose:
To determine the incidence of and clinical factors associated with persistent submacular fluid (SMF) after pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with immediate postoperative face down positioning for macula off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD).
Methods:
A retrospective chart review was done for all patients with macula off RRD who underwent uncomplicated primary PPV with internal drainage of SRF without intraoperative use of perfluorocarbon liquid and with immediate postoperative face down positioning. Eyes with pre-existing pathology including proliferative vitreo-retinopathy, macular degeneration, retinal vein occlusion, epiretinal membrane, macular hole, and diabetic macular edema were excluded as were patients requiring immediate reoperation. All procedures were performed by the same surgeon over a 5 year period. Clinical factors evaluated included duration of RRD, high myopia (> 6 diopters), and duration of tamponade (C3F8 gas or air). Clinical evaluation and optical coherence tomography (OCT) for SMF was done at 3 weeks or later following surgery.
Results:
Eighty five eyes met the criteria for inclusion in this study. Of these, nine eyes (10.5%) showed SMF at some point (> 3 wks) after surgery. None of the eyes in the high myopia group (n=9) had SMF. Neither the duration of RRD prior to surgery (p>0.05), nor the duration of tamponade (p>0.05) influenced the presence of SMF.
Conclusions:
Compared to published literature (PPV for RRD), immediate postoperative face down positioning did not influence the incidence of SMF for macula off RRD. Duration of retinal detachment, high myopia and duration of postoperative tamponade did not show any statistical association with presence of SMF.
Keywords: 762 vitreoretinal surgery •
697 retinal detachment