Abstract
Purpose: :
To investigate relationship between laser flare photometry values and anatomic outcome of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery.
Methods: :
Sixty patients with unilateral rhegmatogenous retinal detachment were included in the study. Thirty nine were treated with scleral buckling, 16 with pars plana vitrectomy, and 5 with pneumatic retinopexy. All patients were examined preoperatively, and 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 3 months after surgery. The anterior chamber inflammatory activity was evaluated using the laser flare photometry (Kowa FM-500; Kowa Company, Ltd, Tokyo, Japan) before and three months after surgery. The results are expressed in photon counts per millisecond (ph/ms).
Results: :
Mean preoperative flare was 34.25 +/- 55.33 ph/ms. Flare values increased according to the extent of retinal attachment (one quadrant = 20.3 ph/ms; four quadrants = 59.8 ph/ms (p=0.28)). Three months after surgery, mean aqueous flare in patients with complete retinal attachment (N=49) was 12.8 ph/ms versus 80.7 ph/ms in patients with persistent retinal detachment (N=11) (p=0.0001). No statistically significant difference was found between the different treatment procedures.
Conclusions: :
Our results show that the breakdown of the blood-ocular barrier as determined by aqueous flare is associated with increased risk for failure of retinal detachment surgery.
Keywords: retinal detachment • inflammation • aqueous