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Cryoablation improves visual acuity, other outcomes in eyes with active pars planitis
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Peripheral retinal cryoablation improved visual acuity, vitreous cell and cystoid macular edema in eyes with active pars planitis better than conventional regional corticosteroid injections and oral corticosteroid therapy, according to a study.
The retrospective study included 186 eyes with pars planitis. Fifty eyes were treated with cryotherapy, while 136 eyes served as controls and were treated with topical, regionally injected or oral corticosteroid therapy.
Mean visual acuity improved in the cryotherapy group and worsened in the control group.
During follow-up, there was a mean decrease of 0.0018 logMAR units per month (P = .023) in the cryotherapy group and a mean increase of 0.0011 logMAR units per month (P = .023) in the control group.
Vitreous cell resolved in 49.8% of eyes in the cryotherapy group at 1 year compared with 22.5% of eyes in the control group (P = .0071). These patients in the cryotherapy group were not administered prednisone or immunosuppressive agents.
In patients in the cryotherapy group who did not receive oral corticosteroids or immunosuppressive agents and were not administered a regional corticosteroid injection within the previous 120 days, 43.7% percent of eyes had resolution of vitreous cell compared with 18.5% of eyes in the control group (P = .0115).
With no systemic medications or regional corticosteroid injections within the previous 120 days, 57.7% eyes in the cryotherapy group showed no recurrence of cystoid macular edema compared with 41% of eyes in the control group.
No eyes in the cryotherapy group developed retinal detachment. Before cryotherapy, one eye had an inferior retinal detachment, but it resolved 3 months after treatment.
According to the study authors, cryotherapy “appears to have a low risk of side effects and to be a reasonable addition to the armamentarium of therapies for pars planitis.” – by Nhu Te
Disclosure: Sohn receives research support from Oxford BioMedica and GlaxoSmithKline. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
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Sohn EH, et al. Am J Ophthalmol. 2016;doi:10.1016/j.ajo.2015.11.009.
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