title: Intraoperative sclerotomy-related retinal breaks for macular surgery, 20- vs 25-gauge vitrectomy systems.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the rate of intraoperative sclerotomy-related retinal breaks (SRRB) between 20- and 25-gauge vitrectomy systems for the correction of macular pucker (MP) and macular hole (MH).
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective interventional case series.
  
  
  METHODS
  Single institution review of 347 consecutive eyes of 333 patients between August 2003 and May 2005 receiving pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for MP or MH repair. Eyes were excluded if they had any form of proliferative retinopathy, or if there was an intraoperative conversion of any sclerotomy from 25- to 20- gauge.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fourteen (6.4%) of 219 eyes in the 20-gauge group had SRRB vs 4 (3.1%) of 128 eyes in the 25-gauge group (Fisher exact test, P value = .22).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was a trend for slightly lower rates of intraoperative sclerotomy-related retinal breaks, single or multiple, with 25-gauge PPV compared with 20-gauge PPV, but the differences were not statistically significant.
authors.affiliation: Retina Service, Wills Eye Hospital, 840 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scartozzi
authors.forename: Amr S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Bessa
authors.forename: Omesh P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Carl D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Regillo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications; D008266:Macula Lutea / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012167:Retinal Perforations / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012599:Sclerostomy; D014821:Vitrectomy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation