New and previously unidentified retinal breaks in eyes with recurrent retinal detachment with proliferative vitreoretinopathy
J. Moisseiev and B. M. Glaser
Center for Vitreoretinal Surgery, Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD.
The location of retinal breaks found on preoperative examination was
studied in 68 eyes of 68 patients with recurrent retinal detachment and
proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Twelve eyes had 23 open breaks that were
known to exist previously, no open break was detected in 18 eyes, and 72
new or previously unidentified breaks were found in 41 eyes. Forty-seven
(65.3%) of the 72 breaks were located on previous buckles, and 31 of these
were on the posterior slope of the buckle. Twenty-nine (40.2%) of all new
or previously unidentified breaks were on the border of a cryopexy-induced
chorioretinal scar, and of these, 25 breaks (86%) were on the posterior
slope of the buckle. Our results indicate that the retina that borders
chorioretinal scars is vulnerable and prone to develop retinal tears
secondary to traction from preretinal membranes. The vicinity of
cryopexy-induced scars should be closely observed for retinal breaks in
cases of recurrent retinal detachment with proliferative vitreoretinopathy.
