New and previously unidentified retinal breaks in eyes with recurrent retinal detachment with proliferative vitreoretinopathy.

ABSTRACT

The location of retinal breaks found on preoperative examination was studied in 68 eyes of 68 patients with recurrent retinal detachment and proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Twelve eyes had 23 open breaks that were known to exist previously, no open break was detected in 18 eyes, and 72 new or previously unidentified breaks were found in 41 eyes. Forty-seven (65.3%) of the 72 breaks were located on previous buckles, and 31 of these were on the posterior slope of the buckle. Twenty-nine (40.2%) of all new or previously unidentified breaks were on the border of a cryopexy-induced chorioretinal scar, and of these, 25 breaks (86%) were on the posterior slope of the buckle. Our results indicate that the retina that borders chorioretinal scars is vulnerable and prone to develop retinal tears secondary to traction from preretinal membranes. The vicinity of cryopexy-induced scars should be closely observed for retinal breaks in cases of recurrent retinal detachment with proliferative vitreoretinopathy.