Surgical Results of Anterior Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy

Min, Woog Ki

Abstract

Proliferative vitreoretinopathy is the principal cause of failure in rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery. The final cause of anatomic failure is anterior proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Surgical outcome of anterior proliferative vitreoretinopathy is poorer than that of posterior proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Of 147 cases which underwent vitreoretinal surgery from January through December 1993, 16 eyes(l6 patients) had anterior proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Seven eyes had anterior proliferative vitreoretinopathy at initial surgery(group 1). Remaining 9 eyes developed anterior proliferative vitreoretinopathy after primary vitrectomy(group 2). Of 16 eyes, 3 were aphakic, 2 were pseudophakic, and remaining 11 were phakic. Lens was removed in 11 phakic eyes. Meticulous vitreous base dissection and removal of anterior epiretinal membrane were performed. After minimal follow-up of 6 months, retina reattached in 11 eyes(69%) including all nine eyes of group 2. Nine eyes(56%) had postoperative visual acuity of 0.025 or better. These results suggest that both vitreous base dissection and meticulous removal of anterior and posterior epiretinal membrane should be crucial in improving surgical success rate of anterior proliferative vitreoretinopathy.