[Treatment and follow-up of retinal tears associated with avulsed overlying retinal vessels (author's transl)].

The present clinical study is based on 17 cases of a specific clinical entity, which is characterised by a retinal break without retinal detachment, the tear being spanned by an avulsed patient retinal vessel invariably adjoining the operculum. The vessel was in the vitreous cavity and formed an arch above the break. All cases began with a sudden decrease or loss of visual acuity due to the rupture of the avulsed vessel and the occurrence of hemorrhages within the vitreous. These hemorrhages recurred in the course of the follow-up of the patients which lasted from 1-8 years. The recurrence of the bleeding was in most instances related to the mobility and the size of the vessel overlying the break. During treatment the cases were divided into two groups, group 1 comprising cases which were subjected only to light-coagulation, whereas in the cases of group 2 scleral buckling was performed in conjunction with cryopexy or light-coagulation. The comparatively best results were achieved in group 2. This condition is rare and amounted to only 1.5% of our total number of cases of retinal tears treated with light-coagulation during the last 8 years.