Efficacy of vitrectomy with air tamponade for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment: a prospective study

Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) causes a permanent decrease in visual acuity and visual field. During pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for RRD, long acting gas have been selected for tamponade because gas stays in the eye for a long time. Recently, several studies have showed the efficacy of air tamponade for RRD treatment. Few prospective studies have analyzed the efficacy of air tamponade. We registered 194 eyes from 190 patients who consented to a prospective study of PPV with air tamponade for RRD by a single surgeon from June 2019 to November 2022. These patients were all treated with air tamponade without silicone oil and were followed for > 3 months postoperatively. Primary success rates were 97.9% (190/194) in total cases, with no discernible difference between the uncomplicated (100%:87/87) and complicated (96.3%: 103/107) RRD groups (P = 0.13). There was no considerable difference in primary success rate between upper break (97.9%:143/146) and lower break cases (97.9%:47/48). Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) grade C was associated with initial failure by multivariate analysis (P = 0.00003). Air tamponade has a sufficient therapeutic effect in cases of RRD less than PVR grade C, regardless of the location of the retinal tear.