Vitrectomy and silicone oil tamponade as an initial surgery for retinal detachment after acute retinal necrosis syndrome.

PURPOSE: To show the feasibility of vitrectomy and silicone oil tamponade as an initial surgical procedure for retinal detachments with multiple tears that develop after the fulminant type of acute retinal necrosis syndrome.
METHODS: In a prospective noncomparative interventional case series, vitrectomy, silicone oil tamponade, and encircling scleral buckling with a solid silicone, combined with phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation (except for one pseudophakic patient [Case 2]), were performed in three consecutive patients during the four-year period from 1999 to 2002. These patients had developed retinal detachment with multiple retinal tears after the resolution of acute retinal necrosis syndrome. As an initial standard treatment for acute retinal necrosis syndrome, all patients received maximum-dose intravenous acyclovir (1500 mg daily) for two weeks combined with intravenous prednisolone tapered from 200 mg daily.
RESULTS: Case 1 was a 65-year-old woman who developed retinal detachment 44 days after the onset of acute retinal necrosis syndrome; Case 2, a 79-year-old man, developed retinal detachment 51 days after the onset; and Case 3, a 59-year-old man, developed retinal detachment 70 days after the onset. Before surgery, all patients showed multiple tears scattered on the detached atrophic retina extending over the entire midperipheral fundus with vitreoretinal adhesions and vitreous opacity. The retina was reattached during the initial surgery. The patients showed no recurrence of retinal detachment and maintained a visual acuity of 20/200 or 20/100 during the one- to three-year follow-up period.
CONCLUSIONS: Vitrectomy and silicone oil tamponade could be a treatment option as the initial surgical procedure for retinal detachments that develop after the fulminant type of acute retinal necrosis syndrome.