Refractive outcome shifts toward myopia after combined surgery

Postoperative refractive outcome shifts toward myopia in patients being treated for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) with the combination of phacoemulsification and pars plana vitrectomy, compared with patients who underwent combined surgery for other vitreoretinal pathologies, according to an article published online in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

Researchers in South Korea conducted a retrospective observational case-control study of 55 patients. All of the patients had had a combined surgery between January 2007 and December 2012: 25 for RRD (the RRD group), and 30 for other vitreoretinal pathology (the control group). They found that the RRD group had a mean shift toward myopia of 0.35 D compared with the control group.

The mean difference between the predicted refractive outcome and the actual postoperative outcome was –0.43 D ± 0.67 (P = 0.046) in the RRD group and –0.08 D ± 0.53 (P = 0.767) in the control group. The mean preoperative intraocular pressure (IOP) was 11.44 mmHg ± 3.15 in the affected eye in the RRD group, and 13.16 mmHg ± 2.73 in the fellow eye (P = 0.045); there was no IOP difference in the affected eye (14.20 mmHg ± 2.95) and fellow eye (14.17 mmHg ± 3.50) in the control group (P = 0.974).

Postoperatively, there was no significant IOP difference in the affected and fellow eyes of both groups. In the RRD group, the refractive difference for all eyes correlated to IOP change (r = 0.659, r² = 0.435, P

To read an abstract of the study, click here.