Objective Quantification of Retinal Shortening: Sonographic Evidence of Intraretinal Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy

To evaluate retinal shortening with ultrasound (USG) in patients with retinal detachment (RD).

This was a pilot, prospective, investigative study. Ten consecutive patients undergoing surgery for total RD with anterior or posterior proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) graded more than grade C1 were included. Longitudinal USG B-scan was done for all patients to calculate retinal-to-choroidal length ratio (RCR). Quadrant-based RCRs and mean RCRs were calculated. All patients were followed for a minimum period of 3 months for unexplained recurrent retinal detachment.

Mean duration of RD was 14.2 months and a mean of 2.8 retinal quadrants had epiretinal PVR, subretinal PVR, or both. Mean RCR was 0.81 and was the least in superior temporal quadrant. Seven patients developed recurrent RD, five at the first weekly visit. All of these patients had an RCR of less than 0.8 in at least one quadrant, whereas none of the remaining three patients had a quadrantic RCR of less than 0.8 (P = .008). Mean RCR was less than 0.8 in four of seven patients with recurrent RD (P = .2) CONCLUSION: Retinal shortening can be measured objectively with USG based RCRs. Low RCR in any retinal quadrant is a serious concern deserving appropriate patient counseling. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2016;47:746-750.].