Functional and anatomical outcomes of vitreoretinal surgery for posterior segment complications after elective cataract surgery

Purpose

To assess the outcomes in patients who required 1 or more vitreoretinal interventions for posterior segment complications arising from elective uneventful cataract surgery.

Setting

Tertiary referral center, single-center study.

Methods

A retrospective interventional case series included 56 consecutive patients who were referred for surgical correction of posterior segment complications within 6 months of cataract surgery. The study period was between 1996 and 2003, and the minimum follow-up was 5 months.

Results

Posterior segment complications were resolved with a single surgical intervention in 40 cases (71.4%). Within 5 months of primary surgical correction, persisting or newly arising posterior segment complications were noted in 16 cases (28.6%). After a mean of 2.1 ± 1.4 (SD) additional surgeries, the number of eyes with posterior segment problems decreased to 7 (12.5%) (P = .035). Posterior segment complications requiring more than 1 vitreoretinal intervention included retinal detachment, endophthalmitis, and choroidal hemorrhages. After primary correction surgery, the mean best corrected visual acuity increased from 0.15 ± 0.24 to 0.37 ± 0.33 (P = .001) after a single intervention and to 0.39 ± 0.32 (P>.05) after additional interventions. Although the intraocular pressure (IOP) decreased from 21.8 ± 16.6 mm Hg to 14.9 ± 3.4 mm Hg (P = .008), 4 (7.1%) consecutive vascular optic atrophies occurred. A reduction in corneal transparency was observed in 46.4% of patients before primary surgical correction and 12.5% after primary surgical correction (P<.001).

Conclusions

In many cases, posterior segment complications arising from cataract surgery could be repaired with favorable functional and anatomical outcomes by a single vitreoretinal intervention. Additional surgery, if requested, provided stabilization of the anatomical and functional outcomes.