Background: Development of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is one of the most important complications of vitreoretinal surgery. Reaching the decision to treat and surgical treatment itself are both challenging.
Materials and methods: Our own data and a review of the literature in PubMed are summarised.
Results: Pharmacological approaches to the prevention and treatment of proliferative vitreoretinopathy have been limited to concepts that have been investigated in preclinical and a few clinical studies. Anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative substances may be mentioned in this context. Surgical techniques range from scleral buckling to the gold standard pars plana vitrectomy, preferably with silicone oil endotamponade. Applying an encircling band, retinotomy or retinectomy can be useful in reattaching the tractional shortened retina.
Conclusion: Surgery is still the method of choice for the treatment of PVR. Pharmacological strategies to prevent or treat PVR have not been established.
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.