Treatment of stage 3 Coats’ disease by endolaser photocoagulation via a two-port pars plana nonvitrectomy approach

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the effectiveness of endolaser photocoagulation by a two-port pars plana nonvitrectomy approach for treating Coats’ disease with shallow exudative retinal detachment. METHODS: This study included 24 patients (23 boys with an age range of 2–17 years, and one girl, age 6 years) with stage 3 Coats’ disease (25 eyes) from December 2012 and May 2014 at a single center. All of the 25 eyes were complicated with serous or total retinal detachment and received none-vitrectomized endolaser: two (23- or 25-gauge) incisions were routinely made 3 mm posterior to the corneal limbus and a laser was applied directly on the abnormal blood vessels. Additional treatments included subretinal fluid drainage (five eyes), intravitreal triamcinolone injection (seven eyes), and intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injection (17 eyes). Best-corrected visual acuity, intraocular pressure, and fundus and abnormal vascular changes were recorded to determine therapeutic effects. RESULTS: Twenty-four out of the 25 treated eyes (96 %) had retina reattached. The number of treatment sessions differed case by case (1–5 sessions, average 1.96) and the time to full treatment of retinal reattachment was 4 months in average. One patient (4 %) presented with retinal redetachment. Five (20 %) eyes received further laser treatment with indirect ophthalmoscope and four eyes (16 %) presented with total retinal detachment at their first visits received consecutive treatments. At the end of the follow-up period (mean, 10.08 months), telangiectasias of 24 (96 %) eyes were resolved and no severe complications occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Endolaser photocoagulation by a two-port pars plana nonvitrectomy approach is an effective treatment for advanced Coats’ disease with serous retinal detachment. The long-term safety of the approach needs further investigation.