Anatomical outcome of retinal detachment surgery comparing different surgical approach

Purpose: To describe the outcome of retinal detachment surgery in a population affected by rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) in southern Sweden 2011–2013. Method: All primary retinal detachments that underwent surgery at the Skane University Hospital were registered during the period of 2011–2013. Age, sex, lens status and the different surgical methods including type of tamponade were recorded. For outcome assessment, no reoperation within 6 months was considered as primary success with one surgery except silicone oil removal. Results: In total, 918 primary retinal detachments were recorded during the 3-year period. Pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) alone was used in 618 eyes (67.3%), whereas an external approach with scleral buckling (SB) was used in 184 cases (20.0%) and a combination of PPV + SB in 116 eyes (12.6%). Pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) in combination with phacoemulsification and IOL implantation was performed in 169 eyes (18.4%), which was 43.6% of the phakic eyes having a PPV procedure. A total of 346 eyes (37.7%) were pseudophakic preoperatively. The success rate of one surgery was 86.9% for the entire cohort. In 120 eyes (13.1%), there was a re-detachment during the 6-month follow-up time. Higher age at the primary surgery turned out to be correlated to an increased risk of primary failure (p = 0.018) but gender was not (p = 0.84). Preoperative lens status did not affect the risk of re-detachment (p = 0.36), and there were no differences in outcome between surgeons (p = 0.27). No surgical procedure – alone or in combination – showed superior outcome as primary surgical approach. Conclusions: There were no significant differences in anatomical outcome between the various surgical procedures in this large cohort of 918 RRD cases.