Effect of PPV on retinal vessel oxygen saturation

The retina has a high demand for oxygen and starvation of this element in retinal vessels is considered to be an important factor in certain diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.¹ To examine the effect of PPV on oxygen saturation in retinal vessels a new tool, oximetry,² was employed, explained Dr Martin Šín (Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Olomouc, The Czech Republic) when discussing the initial reasoning behind his recent pilot study.³ "Our head of department, Professor J. Rehak, has been researching retinal vein occlusion for many years. In 2011, he bought an automatic retinal oximetry (Oxymap, Reykjavik, Iceland) device allowing us to investigate the oxygen saturation in retinal vessels," he said.

Investigating the influence of PPV

Oximetry was performed 24 hours before PPV and then ranging between 42 and 49 days after PPV, which was either 20G or sutureless 23G. Oxygen saturation levels were examined in both retinal arteries and veins and vessel segments of first or second degree were selected. These specific segments were analysed before and after PPV to determine whether there was any change or effect of the surgery on oxygen saturation. The comparison of this data was performed using two-tailed t-test.