Laser prophylaxis for retinal detachment in Stickler syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis

To evaluate the effectiveness of laser prophylaxis in preventing retinal detachment (RD) in patients with Stickler syndrome.

A literature search was performed to identify studies that compared RD rates between eyes that received laser prophylaxis and eyes that received no laser prophylaxis in patients with Stickler syndrome. Data sets from the included studies were pooled and analysed. Individual eyes that presented with RD and eyes without RD with <6 months of follow-up were excluded. The primary outcome was the rate of RD. The study was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guideline 2020 for systematic reviews.

There were 6 articles included in the meta-analysis, including 400 eyes of 225 patients. RD rate was 6.6% (19 of 289) in eyes with laser compared to 36.0% (40 of 111) in eyes with no laser (p < 0.00001, chi-square) with a mean follow-up interval of 6.3 years for eyes with laser and 4.0 years for eyes with no laser. The pooled risk ratio for retinal detachment after laser prophylaxis was 0.23 (95% CI: 0.13-0.41).

Prophylactic laser therapy was associated with a significantly lower risk of RD in patients with Stickler syndrome compared to no laser prophylaxis.