VITREORETINAL SURGICAL OUTCOMES PERFORMED BY SUPERVISED RETINAL FELLOWS VERSUS ATTENDING FACULTY SURGEONS.

Purpose: To evaluate common vitreoretinal surgeries performed by retinal fellows under direct faculty supervision, compared with experienced faculty members.

Methods: Retrospective study analyzing 592 consecutive eyes undergoing retinal surgery from 2009 to 2011 at Retina Consultants of Alabama/University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Ophthalmology. Vitreoretinal surgeries included macular hole, macular pucker, retinal detachment, diabetic vitreous hemorrhage, and diabetic tractional retinal detachment.

Nonsupine positioning is preferred by patients over face-down positioning and provides an equivalent closure rate in 25- and 23-gauge macular hole surgery.

Purpose: Strict face-down positioning after macular hole surgery is very difficult for most patients. Our study seeks to determine if alleviated positioning (avoidance of supine positioning) has equivalent successful closure rates when compared with face-down positioning. A patient survey was also performed to determine patient preference.

Image inversion spectral-domain optical coherence tomography optimizes choroidal thickness and detail through improved contrast.

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine whether there were significant differences in choroidal thickness, contrast, outer choroidal vessel (OCV), and choroidal-scleral junction (CSJ) visualization in inverted versus upright spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).

Methods: Images were captured on Bioptigen SD-OCT, Zeiss Cirrus HD-OCT, and Heidelberg Spectralis in 42 eyes of 21 healthy subjects. Average choroidal thickness across a fovea-centered 4-mm segment was determined with MATLAB.