Endophthalmitis in the era of small gauge transconjunctival sutureless vitrectomy--meta analysis and review of literature.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to review, evaluate, and perform a meta-analysis on the current literature that reports rates of postoperative endophthalmitis after small gauge transconjunctival sutureless vitrectomy (TSV) and compare it to 20-gauge pars plana vitrectomy (20G PPV).

Methods: We performed an extensive review of the current literature. We included only large comparative institutional reviews. Meta-analysis of these reviews was performed.

Results: We found six large retrospective comparative cases series on the 25-gauge (25G) TSV as compared to 20G PPV. The test for homogeneity for the meta-analysis indicates that the studies are not homogeneous and therefore the evidence is tentative.

Conclusion: We cannot conclude that 25G TSV has a higher rate of postoperative endophthalmitis compared to the 20G PPV. Future retrospective or prospective trials need to take into consideration multiple factors.