Vitrectomy combined with endolaser or an encircling scleral buckle in primary retinal detachment surgery: a pilot study

Purpose To compare pars plana vitrectomy and 360° endolaser therapy with pars plana vitrectomy and an encircling scleral buckle for the treatment of primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachments in a randomized pilot study including 60 patients. Methods Main outcome measures were single‐surgery anatomic success rate and final best‐corrected visual acuity at 6 months follow‐up. Cofactors analysed were complication rates, patients' comfort, refractive outcome and macula status assessed using a spectral‐domain optical coherence tomography. Results With differences between both treatment groups regarding type of the retinal detachment, localization of retinal tears (p = 0.0085) and the choice of the intraocular tamponade (p < 0.0202), there were no significant differences between the single‐surgery anatomic success rate (93.33% both groups, p = 1.0) and the visual acuity at final follow‐up (≤0.3 logMAR [logarithm of minimum angle of resolution] in 66.67% in the endolaser group versus 40.0% in the scleral buckle group, p = 0.0514). Questionnaire responses showed lower levels of patients’ discomfort in the endolaser group. A significant difference between both groups was found in the refractive error change after surgery (−0.20 ± 0.51 dioptres in the endolaser group versus −0.88 ± 0.88 dioptres in the scleral buckle group, p = 0.0003). Conclusion Primary vitrectomy combined with 360° endolaser therapy seems to be as effective as vitrectomy combined with an encircling scleral buckle in patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, with possible benefits of an improved patients' comfort and a more stable refractive status after surgery.