[Choroidal thickness after scleral buckling surgery in macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment]

Enhanced depth imaging (EDI) optical coherence tomography (OCT) provides high-definition cross-sectional images of the choroid. Information on alterations in choroidal thickness (CT) after scleral buckling surgery (SBS) is rare.

The medical charts of 122 patients (122 eyes) who underwent SBS for macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) were retrospectively analyzed. Patients with a follow-up ≥ 6 months were included. Postoperative EDI-OCT images concerning CT were evaluated 1 week, 1 month and 6 months postoperatively in 4 groups: group 1 cerclage + cryopexy (n = 39 eyes), group 2 cerclage + cryopexy + sponge (n = 28 eyes), group 3 SBS + subretinal fluid drainage (SRD) (n = 25 eyes) and group 4 SBS + sponge + SRD (n = 30 eyes). Subfoveal CT was compared between the groups and with the non-operated fellow eye.

Subfoveal CT in groups 1, 2, 3 and 4 was thicker 1 week postoperatively. There were no significant differences between the groups or when comparing the operated eye with the fellow eye 1 and 6 months postoperatively.

There were no differences in subfoveal CT 1 and 6 months after SBS between the eye with macula-off RRD and the fellow eye. The use of a sponge or SRD induced no differences concerning subfoveal CT.