Minimized surgery for retinal detachments with segmental buckling and nondrainage. An 11-year follow-up.

A prospective study was conducted of 107 retinal detachments operated on between August 1979 and January 1980, with a complete follow-up period ranging from 11 years to 11.5 years. Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) stage C1 or C2 was seen in 16 detachments. Surgery consisted of cryopexy and segmental buckling (limited to the area of breaks) with nondrainage. Of the surgical procedures, 71% were radial buckles, 19% circumferential, and 10% radial combined with circumferential buckles. The primary reattachment rate was 92.6%, and 97% after reoperation. During the long-term follow-up period, redetachment occurred in 12.1% of the eyes: 5.6% were classified as early redetachments (between 2 and 4 months), and 6.5% as late redetachments (between 3 and 7 years). Early redetachment was caused by PVR, and late redetachment by new holes. After reoperation, reattachment occurred in 92.6% of the eyes. The predominant cause of final failure was PVR (3.7%). Only one eye had two reoperations. There was a highly significant (P less than 0.001) improvement between preoperative visual function (mean 0.32) and postoperative visual function (mean 0.56) in all 99 reattached eyes during the follow-up period (Mann-Whitney U test).