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Study: Less pain, faster recovery using fibrin glue for post-vitrectomy closure
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Using fibrin glue instead of sutures to close conjunctival incisions after performing pars plana vitrectomy may result in less postop pain and a faster return to work, a retrospective study suggests.
Peter Stalmans, MD, PhD, and colleague Ruth Mentens sent a questionnaire to 506 patients treated with 20-gauge pars plana vitrectomy in 2004 at University Hospital in Leuven, Belgium. The questionnaire asked patients about postoperative pain, ocular discomfort and their duration of sick leave resulting from surgery, according to the study.
The researchers found that ocular redness resolved significantly sooner among patients who received the fibrin glue (P = .0471). These patients also had significantly less ocular discomfort (P = .0376) and used less ointment postoperatively (P = .0105).
In addition, "the patients in the glue group ... had shorter sick leave with independent workers (P = .0292) and experienced less pain on the first postoperative day after vitrectomy without cerclage (P = .034)," the authors said.
"Fibrin glue causes less postoperative pain, discomfort and sick leave ... than sutures, and therefore, appears in our hands to be a better alternative to sutures," they said.
The study is published in the July issue of American Journal of Ophthalmology.