Posterior vitreous detachment after neodymium:YAG laser posterior capsulotomy.

Purpose: To determine whether retinal detachment (RD) after neodymium:YAG (Nd:YAG) laser posterior capsulotomy is due to a greater incidence of posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) than in controls and whether vitreous status at the time of capsulotomy is useful in predicting the risk for RD.

Setting: Teaching hospital ophthalmology service.

Methods: Patients having Nd:YAG laser posterior capsulotomy after uneventful cataract surgery (treatment group) were prospectively studied. Fellow eyes that had extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation but no Nd:YAG capsulotomy (no-laser group) formed 1 control group, and eyes that had no cataract surgery (phakic group) formed a second control group. The treatment group comprised 322 eyes; the no-laser group, 97; and the phakic group, 142. Dilated fundus and vitreous examinations were performed at baseline (before Nd:YAG capsulotomy) and 12 months postoperatively.

Results: At baseline, the prevalence of PVD was similar in the treatment and no-laser groups (61.8% and 63.9%, respectively; P=.2014) but was significantly lower in the phakic group (50.7%; P=.0151). There was no significant difference among the groups in the development of PVD in eyes with attached vitreous at baseline (17.9%, treatment group; 11.4%, no-laser group; 17.1%, phakic group) (P=.6588).

Conclusions: The prevalence of PVD was significantly higher in eyes after ECCE and IOL implantation than in phakic eyes independent of Nd:YAG laser posterior capsulotomy. Capsulotomy was not associated with a significantly higher incidence of new PVD; therefore, the presence or absence of PVD at the time of capsulotomy is not helpful in assessing the risk for RD in the first year after laser treatment.