[Pneumatic retinopexy with SF6]

Pneumatic retinopexy has been recently reported as an alternative procedure in the treatment of retinal detachments. This technique may be considered if the break is no larger than the 1 o'clock hour, the break is located superiorly between 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock and there is no proliferative vitreoretinopathy greater than C1. The expandable gas SF6 (sulphur hexafluoride) has been used in the treatment of 16 cases of retinal detachment. Two of them were new cases treated with pneumatic retinopexy and cryotherapy applications and they were both successful. The other 14 cases were redetachments, so the treatment was completed by scleral buckling in 9 cases and scleral buckling with permanent implants of silicon in 5 cases. The rate of success was 3 to 9 and 2 to 5. For the rest of 9 cases vitrectomy or silicon oil injection would have been useful. Pneumatic retinopexy proved to be a low-price surgical treatment easy to use even in a consulting room, in one or two-session method. It may be performed as a single procedure for new cases of superior retinal detachments or in addition to other surgical techniques on selected cases.