The results of this prospective study show the good intraocular tolerance of heavy silicone oil as tamponade in complicated retinal detachment. Its specific gravity allows for sufficient tamponade of inferior retinal tears for at least 3 months without significant side effects.

The number of retinal detachments in children is very low in comparison to the number of retinal detachments in adults, only 3.2 - 6.6% occur in children. The main predisposing factors are trauma, associated conditions, myopia and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) i. e., stage 4 and 5 and late stage of ROP. Furthermore, retinal detachment in children can be idiopathic. These eyes are not associated with any identified ocular or systemic comorbidity. Associated conditions include hereditary vitreoretinal disorders (e. g., morbus Stickler, X-linked juvenile retinoschisis, Marfan syndrome, familiär exsudative vitreoretinopathy), malformations (e. g., persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous, coloboma) and retinal detachment following cataract surgery. In a few cases retinal detachment is caused by uveitis and by Coats disease. Delayed presentation and proliferative vitreoretinopathy are a common problem and in most eyes primary pars plana vitrectomy is necessary. It is important to perform consequent postoperative follow-up. The functional and anatomic outcomes of retinal detachment in children are less successful than in adults. Further surgical innovations and aetiology-specific treatment strategies are required to improve the outcome in this group. Recent results show that the intravitreal use of VEGF inhibitors to treat proliferative retinopathy (ROP) in children is effective, but we need further information about safety and side-effects.

Zusammenfassung Die Zahl der Netzhautabl?sungen bei Kindern ist im Vergleich zum Erwachsenenalter relativ gering, heredit?re vitreoretinale Erkrankungen (z.?B. Stickler-Syndrom, Wagner-Syndrom, Kniest-Syndrom, famili?r exsudative Vitreoretinopathie, kongenitale X-chromosomale Retinoschisis, Knobloch-Syndrom, Incontinentia pigmenti, Norrie Disease) gelten als pr?disponierender Faktor. Heredit?re vitreoretinale Erkrankungen sind durch eine abnorme Glask?rperarchitektur und assoziierte Netzhautver?nderungen gekennzeichnet. Zus?tzlich werden weitere okul?re Ver?nderungen diagnostiziert. Ein Teil der heredit?ren Erkrankungen weist auch charakteristische systemische Anomalien auf, deren Kenntnis hilft bei der Sicherung der Diagnose. Vitreoretinopathien sind die h?ufigste Ursache f?r heredit?re Netzhautabl?sungen. Bei der Mehrzahl der betroffenen Augen ist eine prim?re Vitrektomie erforderlich, operationstechnische Spezifika, die sich f?r die einzelnen Erkrankungen ergeben, werden diskutiert.