Aim: Our purpose was to determine the vitreous erythropoietin (EPO) level in patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) and proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR).
Methods: The levels of EPO in vitreous were measured using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit from 64 patients, of whom 40 had RRD, 13 had PVR and 11 had idiopathic macular hole as control.
Results: The mean levels of EPO in the RRD group (54.6 +/- 7.3 mU/ml) and PVR group (104.1 +/- 20.8 mU/ml) were significantly higher than that in the idiopathic macular hole control group (14.4 +/- 3.6 mU/ml; p < 0.001, p = 0.003, respectively). The mean EPO level in PVR was higher than that in RRD, but the difference was not significant (p = 0.112).
Conclusion: The vitreous EPO level was upregulated in eyes with RRD and PVR.