Long-term safety and efficacy of single-port pars plana anterior vitrectomy with limbal infusion during anterior segment surgery.

Purpose: To report the safety and efficacy of single-port pars plana anterior vitrectomy.

Setting: Cincinnati Eye Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

Design: Retrospective case series.

Methods: Eyes that had anterior vitrectomy from September 2010 to June 2016 were electronically identified. Charts were reviewed for demographics, history of ocular trauma, underlying ocular or systemic comorbidity, surgical indications, outcomes, and postoperative complications.

Results: The mean postoperative follow-up was 10.9 months with a mean patient age of 62.4 years. Three hundred thirty-five eyes (97.7%) were scheduled as planned anterior vitrectomies, whereas 8 eyes (2.3%) were operated on unexpectedly after posterior capsule ruptures. Eighty-two eyes (23.9%) had a history of trauma. Twenty-five eyes (7.3%) had documented postoperative cystoid macular edema (CME), whereas 7 (2.0%) of these eyes had known preoperative CME. There were 3 eyes (0.9%) with retinal detachments and 1 eye (0.3%) with a retinal tear without detachment. There were no cases of endophthalmitis and no evidence of residual vitreous prolapse in the anterior chamber in any eye postoperatively.

Conclusions: The safety and efficacy profile of a pars plana technique compared favorably against historical data for both coaxial and bimanual limbal clear corneal infusion and cutting. Sutureless pars plana anterior vitrectomy might be considered a safe and reliable solution for the anterior segment surgeon in managing vitreous prolapse during anterior segment surgeries.