Intraoperative sclerotomy-related retinal breaks for macular surgery, 20- vs 25-gauge vitrectomy systems.
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.
Scartozzi
Richard
R
Retina Service, Wills Eye Hospital, 840 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.
Bessa
Amr S
AS
Gupta
Omesh P
OP
Regillo
Carl D
CD
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