Risk of Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy in the Second Eye in Adult Patients with Bilateral Retinal Detachment

To examine the incidence and risk factors of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) in the patients who develop rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) in their fellow eye after having a prior RRD complicated by PVR.

Multicenter, retrospective observational study.

Eyes with retinal detachment and PVR between 2015 and 2023 were identified through the Vestrum Health Database.

Risk factors for PVR development, specifically documented PVR in the fellow eye, gender, age, lens status, and presenting and final visual acuity (VA), were evaluated.

Odds ratio (OR) for PVR development during 6 months postoperative period.

Of 57 264 patients, 11% had PVR in ≥1 eye. Of the 50 989 patients who did not develop PVR after the initial RRD, 4834 developed RRD in the fellow eye. One hundred sixty-six of these patients developed PVR in their second eye for a PVR rate of 3% in the fellow eye. Of the 6275 patients who developed PVR after primary RRD repair, 406 of these patients went on to develop RRD in their fellow eye. Forty-two of these patients developed PVR in their second eye for a PVR rate of 10%. A regression model that also included age, gender, and VA led to an OR of 3.42 (P < 0.001). The OR of PVR development generally decreased with age. Pseudophakic patients had a higher OR for PVR development, 1.48 (P = 0.017). Initial patients with VA 20/40 to 20/80 had an OR of 2.15 (P = 0.003). Patients with VA worse than 20/200 had an OR of 2.89 for PVR development (P < 0.001).

Patients with a history RRD with PVR in 1 eye have approximately 3.5 times higher rate of PVR in their second eye after RRD compared with patients without a history of PVR. This finding potential impacts surgical decisions and use of prophylactic anti-PVR therapy if the patient's second eye has RRD. The final VA in the second eye of patients with a history of PVR is better than for the second eye of patients with no history of PVR, which may indicate surgeons are already taking steps to prevent PVR in the patient's second eye.

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