Anterior proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Clinicopathologic, light microscopic, and ultrastructural findings

Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) involving the posterior and equatorial retina is an established clinicopathologic entity. Clinically, a similar process, anterior PVR (APVR), results in anterior dragging of the peripheral retina by membranes which connect to the ciliary body or iris and cause circumferentially and radially fixed retinal folds. The pathology of APVR, however, has not been reported. The authors describe pathologic findings in 28 cases of APVR and ultrastructural pathologic findings in 6 surgical APVR specimens. Anterior PVR was frequently associated with retinal detachment (RD) repair (96%) and trauma (38%). Residual vitreous at the vitreous base virtually always provided a scaffold for membranes containing proliferating cells and deposited extracellular matrix. Major components of APVR membranes were fibrovascular tissue (71%), pigment epithelial cells (43%), fibrous and corneal stromal ingrowth (32%), and glial proliferation (18%). Because of its anterior location, APVR membranes also incorporated ciliary epithelium and corneal endothelium. Contraction of APVR membranes caused anterior retinal displacement and detachment in anatomic configurations corresponding to narrow and wide peripheral troughs. The authors' findings indicate that APVR is a distinctive clinicopathologic entity which may complicate rhegmatogenous RD and its repair.