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Gas tamponade more successful in some retinal detachment vitrectomy cases
Gas tamponade was better than air tamponade in patients undergoing primary vitrectomy for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in the lower retinal quadrants, according to a study.
The study authors suggested that air tamponade should be used in superior quadrant retinal detachments only.
The retrospective study included 524 eyes of 523 patients who underwent primary vitrectomy for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment; 158 eyes were treated with air tamponade and 366 eyes were treated with sulfur hexafluoride 20% gas tamponade.
Mean follow-up was 8.8 months in the air tamponade group and 8.9 months in the gas tamponade group.
Study results showed that the chance of primary success was 81% in eyes treated with air and 86.9% in eyes treated with gas.
Gas tamponade was significantly more successful in cases involving the inferior quadrants (P = .009). Gas tamponade was 84.7% successful and gas tamponade was 69.6% successful in these cases.
Data showed that air tamponade was 87.3% successful and gas tamponade was 90.5% successful in cases in which the inferior quadrants were not involved, the authors said.