Inferior retinal detachment repair using vitrectomy with or without scleral buckling.

Purpose: To compare outcomes in inferior rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) repair using pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) or PPV with scleral buckle (PPV-SB).

Methods: Patients operated for inferior RRD at a tertiary care center between 2014 and 2018 were included. Inferior RRD was defined as retinal detachment with tears between 4:00 and 8:00 clock hours in detached retina. Non-RRD etiologies (e.g., traumatic, tractional), proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) grade ≥C2, and silicone oil use were excluded. Single surgery anatomic success (SSAS) was defined as absence of reoperation for recurrent RRD during follow-up.

Results: There were 366 patients included of which 260 (71%) were operated using PPV-SB. SSAS was achieved in 96 (91%) of PPV patients and 227 (87%) of PPV-SB patients (p=0.38) over a median follow-up of 15 months. At final follow-up, PHVA was 0.18 [0.10, 0.30] among PPV patients and 0.18 [0.10, 0.40] among PPV-SB (Snellen equivalent: 20/30; p=0.03). After adjusting for demographic (i.e., age and sex) and preoperative characteristics (i.e., macula on status, baseline PHVA, and grade C1 PVR), PPV-SB did not alter SSAS (p=0.210).

Conclusions: Following inferior RRD repair, there were no significant differences in SSAS between patients undergoing PPV and PPV-SB in this large, retrospective cohort.