Results of a temporary balloon buckle in the treatment of 500 retinal detachments and a comparison with pneumatic retinopexy.

Five hundred detachments with a single break or a group of breaks close together were treated with parabulbar balloon and cryopexy in Tübingen between November 1980 and September 1986. Follow-up ranged from six to 91 months. Primary attachment was achieved in 466 eyes (93%). Twelve (2.4%) redetached after the balloon was removed. After a second operation, 490 eyes (98%) were attached and after a third, 493 (99%) were attached. The results with the extraocular balloon were compared with results of a similar group of detachments treated with an intraocular gas bubble. The primary attachment rate with the expanding gas operation was 91%; 11% of these eyes redetached. Although the final attachment rate was 99%, the complications after gas were much more frequent and of serious consequence.