Incidence of retinal detachment after small-incision, sutureless pars plana vitrectomy compared with conventional 20-gauge vitrectomy in macular hole and epiretinal membrane surgery

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence of retinal detachment (RD) after a small-incision, sutureless vitrectomy compared with conventional 20-gauge vitrectomy in macular hole and epiretinal membrane surgery and to investigate the clinical features and possible causative agents. Methods: The authors performed a computerized database analysis to retrospectively identify all patients who underwent vitrectomy at our institution between March 2001 and March 2009 for epiretinal membrane and macular hole. The authors further investigated the clinical features of patients who showed RD within 6 months postoperatively in the study eye. The incidence rate and clinical features of the affected eyes were analyzed. Results: During the study period, 2,432 vitrectomies were performed for epiretinal membrane and macular hole. The incidence of RD was 1.7% (31 of 1,862) after sutureless 25- or 23-gauge vitrectomy and 1.2% (7 of 570) after conventional 20-gauge vitrectomy. The difference was not statistically significant. Moreover, the difference between 25-gauge surgery (28 of 1,580) and 23-gauge surgery (3 of 282) was not statistically significant. In 9 of 38 cases (24%), the RD was probably attributable to the underlying pathology (e.g., an unclosed macular hole and reopening of preexisting retinal tears). Twenty-one eyes (76%) presented new retinal tears that were not related to the sclerotomies in both groups. Conclusion: The incidence of RD after macular surgery is not increased in small-gauge, sutureless vitrectomy compared with the standard 20-gauge procedure. In most cases, the RD is not caused by the surgical technique itself but caused by new retinal breaks. © The Ophthalmic Communications Society, Inc.