Bilateral vitrectomy in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy—characteristics and surgical outcomes

Comparing characteristics and outcomes of patients with bilateral proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) undergoing concurrent and sequential vitrectomy.

Patients having bilateral vitrectomy were classified into concurrent (requiring bilateral surgery simultaneously) and sequential (indicating vitrectomy in one eye later) groups. Clinical characteristics and outcomes were compared, and correlation between the first and second-operated eyes was analyzed.

One hundred eight and 126 eyes were in the concurrent and sequential groups, respectively. The sequential group was older (50 vs. 45 years, P = 0.017), had less retinal detachment (54 vs. 77%, P < 0.001), and better visual outcomes (0.79 vs. 1.30, P = 0.021), especially the second-operated eyes. The concurrent group had weaker correlations of disease severity (phi coefficient: 0.36 vs. 0.61) and post-operative visual acuity (r: 0.12 vs. 0.34) between the first- and second-operated eyes than the sequential group. Prior intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (odds ratio [OR] 0.37, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.15–0.86, P = 0.025) predicted better outcomes, while post-operative neovascular glaucoma predicted worse outcomes (OR 6.5, 95% CI 1.7–27.9, P = 0.008).

PDR patients requiring surgery concurrently were younger and had more severe diseases and worse outcomes. However, poor outcomes in the first eye did not predict similar outcomes in the second eye.