No difference found between two procedures for retinal reattachment

Conventional scleral buckling produced results similar to a more complex surgical procedure in the treatment of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in a recently published study.

Hem K. Tewari, MD, and colleagues at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi randomized 44 consecutive eyes with uncomplicated, primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachments to undergo either 360° scleral buckling, cryopexy and external subretinal fluid drainage or 360· scleral buckling, pars plana vitrectomy, air-fluid exchange, endolaser and injection of 14% perfluoropropane gas. All eyes had clear media and unseen retinal breaks.

At 3 month follow-up there was no significant difference in primary reattachment rates between the two treatment groups, with an 80% reattachment rate for patients in the combined surgery group (16 of 20 cases) and 70% for patients in the scleral buckling group (14 of 20 cases).

Mean visual acuity (VA) improved significantly from preop in both groups, but there was no significant difference between the groups. Combined surgery patients had a mean postop VA of 6/60, and scleral buckling patients had a mean postop VA of 6/36.

The authors noted that more intraoperative and postoperative complications were seen in patients undergoing the combined procedure. The study is published in the October issue of Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology.