Outcomes of a postoperative perfluorocarbon liquid tamponade for complex retinal detachments: 12 years of experience in southern Thailand

Abstract

Background: The study evaluates both functional and anatomical outcomes of retinal detachment (RD) repair by vitrectomy and perfluorocarbon liquid (PFCL) tamponade. Methods: A retrospective chart review of patients who underwent vitrectomy using PFCL tamponade for RD repair from causes such as giant tear, chronic RD, or RD with previously failed surgery. Results: This study included 122 eyes from 121 patients. One-hundred fourteen eyes (93.5%) had baseline vision worse than 20/200. The median duration of intraocular PFCL retainment was 14 days before gas or silicone oil replacement. The retinal reattachment rate was 80.3%. At 1 year, the retention probability of retinal reattachment was 0.84 (95% confidence interval, 0.77-0.91). Although visual improvement was found in 45.9% of patients, the median of final vision was not different between baseline and the last visit. Conclusion: The rate of retinal reattachment operated with a short-to medium-term PFCL tamponade achieved a high satisfaction rate. However, postoperative hypotony was a predictor for unfavorable visual and anatomical outcomes.

Medium-Term Perfluoro-N-Octane as Rescue Postoperative Tamponade for Very Complex Retinal Detachments

“…Hypotony is a reported risk factor for surgical failure. 12 Although visual outcomes were modest in this case series, in view of the complexity of the cases, the anatomical outcomes compared with others' experience with less complex RDs were excellent. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]12,14,15,17,19,[28][29][30] This series had the shortcomings inherent in a singlesurgeon retrospective noncomparative small case series.…”

The Role of Internal Limiting Membrane Flap for Highly Myopic Macular Hole Retinal Detachment: Improving the Closure Rate but Leading to Excessive Gliosis

“…Furthermore, we used adjuvants to modify the inverted flap technique. The application of PFCL confers several advantages: (1) PFCL provides a good surgery view ( 34 ); (2) The flap can be grasped and inverted more easily with its surface tension ( 8 , 34 ); (3) Its high specific gravity ensures the flap keeps stable and nearly complete drainage of SRF. Nevertheless, many drawbacks of PFCL, including toxic effects on cells, driving the higher likelihood of inflammations, and relatively high price, still need to be concerned.…”

Vitreous Substitutes from Bench to the Operating Room in a Translational Approach: Review and Future Endeavors in Vitreoretinal Surgery

“…Some of these impurities have been identified as molecules with nitrogen bonds, as well as compounds containing hydrogen and fluoride [ 151 , 152 ]. Nevertheless, there are studies reporting on the use of PFCLs as short-, medium-, and long-term vitreous substitute to exploit their high specific gravity in a way similar to HSiO [ 153 , 154 , 155 , 156 , 157 ]. Semifluorinated Alkanes-(SFAs) SFAs were introduced in the early 2000s as a novel family of chemicals with excellent characteristics for application in vitreoretinal surgery [ 99 ].…”

“…Some of these impurities have been identified as molecules with nitrogen bonds, as well as compounds containing hydrogen and fluoride [ 151 , 152 ]. Nevertheless, there are studies reporting on the use of PFCLs as short-, medium-, and long-term vitreous substitute to exploit their high specific gravity in a way similar to HSiO [ 153 , 154 , 155 , 156 , 157 ].…”