Silicone oil, retinotomy may lower risk of recurrent detachment in eyes with PVR

LONDON – Eyes with proliferative vitreoretinopathy may have a lower risk of recurrent retinal detachment if they undergo a relaxing retinotomy with silicone oil tamponade, according to a surgeon speaking here.

Stanley Chang, MD, described early, unpublished results of a study in 81 eyes with proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) here at the Moorfields Bicentenary scientific meeting.

Dr. Chang said that eyes tended to fare better after silicone oil tamponade and relaxing retinotomy than eyes in which a gas tamponade was used. He noted that the eyes in which silicone oil tamponade was used also presented with worse baseline acuity than those given a gas tamponade.

However, he said, the eyes that underwent silicone oil tamponade and relaxing retinotomy also had higher persistent or new hypotony. In the study, hypotony was defined as an IOP of less than 5 mm Hg.

The eyes that had combined silicone oil tamponade and relaxing retinotomy had “significantly fewer reoperations,” Dr. Chang said.