Wound sealing-related complications of 25-gauge vitrectomy in proliferative diabetic retinopathy versus simple macular pathology.

PURPOSE To compare the incidence of wound sealing-related complications of 25-gauge transconjunctival sutureless vitrectomy (25-G TSV) for proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) versus non-diabetic simple macular pathology (SMP). METHODS A retrospective comparative study was conducted on 377 eyes that underwent 25-G TSV for PDR (n=189 eyes) or non-diabetic SMP (n=188 eyes). Both groups were compared retrospectively and followed for at least 1 month (range 1-6 months). Main outcome measure was the incidence of postoperative wound sealing-related complications in both groups. RESULTS We found a statistically significant lower incidence of wound sealing-related complications on the 1st postoperative day in the PDR than SMP group (P-value<0.05). The incidence were as follows: 9% vs 18% for hypotony, 0% vs 2% for choroidal detachment, 0% vs 2% for external leakage and 1% vs 8% for conjunctival bleb formation, for the PDR and SMP groups respectively. This was associated with a significantly higher postoperative inflammation and IOP in PDR group. The day 1 higher postoperative IOP and inflammation were correlated with the presence of PDR pathology. CONCLUSION The higher postoperative inflammation and IOP following vitrectomy in diabetic eyes, especially when combined with endolaser photocoagulation, makes such eyes less susceptible to wound sealing-related complications following sutureless vitrectomy.