Endoilluminator-assisted scleral buckling: Our results

AIMS: The aim was to evaluate the long-term surgical outcomes of endoillumination assisted scleral buckling (EASB) in primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). METHODS: Twenty-five eyes of 25 patients with primary RRD and proliferative vitreoretinopathy ≤C2 where any preoperative break could not be localised, were included. All patients underwent 25 gauge endoilluminator assisted rhegma localisation. Successful break determination was followed by cryopexy and standard scleral buckling under surgical microscope. Anatomical and functional outcomes were evaluated at the end of 2 years. RESULTS: At least one intraoperative break could be localized in 23 of 25 (92%) eyes. Median age of these patients was 46 years (range: 17-72). Thirteen eyes (56.52%) were phakic, 8 (34.78%) were pseudophakic and 2 (8.6%) were aphakic. Anatomical success (attachment of retina) was achieved in 22 (95.63%) of 23 eyes with EASB. All eyes remained attached at the end of 2 years. Significant improvement in mean visual acuity (VA) was achieved at the end of follow-up (1.09 ± 0.46 log of the minimum angle of resolution [logMAR]) compared with preoperative VA (1.77 ± 0.28 logMAR) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: EASB can be considered an effective alternative to vitreoretinal surgery in simple retinal detachment cases with the added advantage of enhanced microscopic magnification and wide field illumination.