Objective: To report outcomes of 27 gauge pars plana vitrectomy for the management of a variety of simple to complex posterior segment disorders.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad, Pakistan, and comprised data of all patients who underwent 27 gauge pars plana vitrectomy between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2019, for a variety of indications. Data noted included age, gender, laterality, diagnosis, pre-operative visual acuity, date of surgery and surgical details, including operating time and complications. Best corrected visual acuity at 3 months was also recorded. Data was analysed using SPSS 21.
Results: Of the 574 patients, 355(62%) were males and 219(38%) were females. The overall mean age was 55±16.9 years. There were total 665 eyes as 91(15.8%) patients underwent bilateral surgeries. The most common surgical indications were diabetic tractional retinal detachment 196(29.5%) and vitreous haemorrhage 191(28.7%). Mean operating time was 62± 37 minutes. With the exception of 0.34% cases where 20 gauge fragmatome was used, no case required conversion to 20 gauge system, while 25 gauge trocar was used for silicon oil injection. Per-operative complications included iatrogenic retinal tear 2(0.3%) eyes and supra choroidal silicon oil migration 1(0.15%) eye. Post-operative complications were raised intraocular pressure 7(1.05%), endophthalmitis 1(0.15%) eye, haemorrhagic occlusive retinal vasculitis 1(0.15%) eye and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment 2(0.3%) eyes. Mean best corrected visual acuity improved from 1.62± 0.68 to 0.4± 0.38 logarithm of minimum angle of resolution (p<0.001).
Conclusions: The 27 gauge pars plana vitrectomy was found to be a safe and effective procedure for both simple and complex retinal pathologies requiring significant surgical manipulation.
Keywords: Operative time, Retina, Visual acuity, Vitrectomy, Vitreoretinal surgery..