The causes and prognosis of postoperative vitreous hemorrhage after vitrectomy for proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Abstract

Objective To observe and analyze the causes and prognosis of postoperative vitreous hemorrhage (PVH) after vitrectomy for proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Methods A total of 160 PDR patients (171 eyes) were enrolled in this retrospective study. There were 85 males and 75 females. The patients aged from 33 to 73 years, with the mean age of (56.40±8.97) years. All the patients were performed 25G pars plana vitrectomy by the same doctor. Fibrovascular membrane peeling and panretinal photocoagulation were performed during the operation. Combined phacoemulsification was performed in one hundred and five patients. Vitreous tamponade was used at the end of surgery, including silicone oil (43 eyes), C3F8 (63 eyes), air or fluid (65 eyes). The follow-up ranged from 6 to 22 months, with the mean follow-up of (9.34±6.97) months. The features of PVH were observed. The difference of age, HbA1c, creatinine level, the severity of the fundus lesions, whether received treatment of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), whether received combined cataract phacoemulsification were analyzed to find out the cause and prognosis of PVH. Results The corrected vision of all the patients after the primary PPV at the latest follow up was finger counting/1 meter. PVH occurred in 15 eyes of 15 patients, the incidence was 8.77%. The PVH occurred 2 weeks to 6 months after surgery. There were significant difference in age (t=2.551), proportion with tractional retinal detachment (χ2=7.431), progressive fibrovascular proliferation (χ2=4.987) and using anti-VEGF (χ2=9.742) between the patients with and without PVH (P 0.05). During follow-up, neovascularization of iris (NVI) occurred in 1 eye and neovascular glaucoma (NVG) occurred in 4 eyes. Seven eyes underwent reoperation, 7 eyes were spontaneous recovered, 1 eye with NVG give up treatment. Fibrovascular membrane was the major cause of recurrent hemorrhage. At the end of follow-up, hemorrhage was absorbed in all the 14 eyes which were treated, 12 eyes had same visual acuity compared to that before postoperative hemorrhage, 2 eyes with NVG had decreased vision. There was significant difference in the corrected vision between the patients with and without NVI or NVG (P=0.022). Conclusions PVH after PPV for PDR is closely related to the severity of diabetic retinopathy, fibrovascular membrane is the major cause of recurrent hemorrhage. NVG is an important factor related to vision acuity prognosis. Key words: Diabetic retinopathy/surgery; Vitrectomy/adverse effects; Vitreous hemorrhage