title: Peripheral Cryoablation for Treatment of Active Pars Planitis: Long-Term Outcomes of a Retrospective Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the long-term outcomes of peripheral retinal cryoablation to conventional treatment for active pars planitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective, interventional, comparative case series.
  
  
  METHODS
  Review at a single institution was conducted to compare the effect of cryotherapy to eyes with pars planitis to those receiving conventional therapy (topical, regionally injected, or oral corticosteroid therapy). Best-corrected visual acuity (VA), complications, resolution of cystoid macular edema (CME), and anterior chamber and vitreous inflammation were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred thirty-six eyes were treated conventionally, 50 eyes were treated with cryotherapy. Median follow-up was 60.8 months (range 8.1-223.1 months) in the cryotherapy group and 45.0 months (range 3.1-339.0 months) in the controls. There were no significant differences in baseline VA, anterior chamber and vitreous inflammation, presence of CME, and prior use of regional corticosteroid injections. VA improved over time in the cryotherapy group (slope of -0.0018 logMAR units per month; P = .023) but declined in the controls (slope of +0.0011 logMAR units per month; P = .023). Kaplan-Meier survival estimates demonstrated faster times to resolution of anterior chamber cell, vitreous cell, and CME in the cryotherapy-treated eyes. Hazard ratios of remission (adjusted for confounding factors) for vitreous cell and CME for those treated with cryotherapy compared to controls were 4.73 (95% confidence interval 1.63, 13.63; P = .004) and 6.85 (95% confidence interval 1.06, 44.78; P = .044), respectively. No ocular complications were identified in the cryotherapy group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data suggest that peripheral retinal cryoablation therapy is an effective treatment for active pars planitis and may be better than conventional regional corticosteroid injections and oral corticosteroid therapy for induction of remission.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Stephen A. Wynn Institute for Vision Research, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa. Electronic address: Elliott.Sohn@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Elliott H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Sohn
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Stephen A. Wynn Institute for Vision Research, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa.
authors.forename: Benjamin C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Chaon
authors.affiliation: Departments of Ophthalmology and Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; Department of Epidemiology, The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Douglas A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Jabs
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Stephen A. Wynn Institute for Vision Research, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa.
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Folk
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000867:Anterior Chamber / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D017679:Cryotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008269:Macular Edema / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015868:Pars Planitis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000473:pathology