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Posterior segment complications often resolve with single vitreoretinal surgery
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A single vitreoretinal surgical intervention can often resolve post-cataract surgery posterior segment complications, although additional surgeries may be needed to stabilize outcomes, according to a study by researchers in Switzerland.
Justus G. Garweg, MD, of the Swiss Eye Institute in Bern, and colleagues reviewed outcomes of 56 patients who experienced posterior segment complications within 6 months after uneventful cataract surgery. They found that a single surgery resolved complications in 40 patients (71.4%), according to the study.
The remaining 16 patients (28.6%) developed new posterior segment complications within 5 months after the first vitreoretinal intervention. Of these, seven eyes (12.5%) had persistent complications after undergoing a mean 2.1 additional procedures (P = .035), the authors reported.
Complications that required more than one vitreoretinal intervention included retinal detachment, endophthalmitis and choroidal hemorrhages, they noted.
Mean best corrected visual acuity significantly improved to 0.37 after the primary surgical correction from 0.15 at baseline, and improved to 0.39 after the additional surgeries, according to the study.
Four eyes (7.1%) developed vascular optic atrophies, although IOP decreased from 21.8 mm Hg to 14.9 mm Hg overall (P = .008).
Researchers also observed reduced corneal transparency in 46.4% of patients before the primary surgical intervention, which decreased to 12.5% postop, the authors reported.
The study is published in the February issue of the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.