Combined pars plana lensectomy-vitrectomy for management of hereditary ectopia lentis

Objective: to assess the visual outcome and complications of combined pars plana lensectomy-vitrectomy in hereditary ectopia lentis. study design: prospective observational study. settings: al-ibrahim eye hospital,isra postgraduate institute of ophthalmology,karachi; from jan' 2004 to dec' 2007 subjects and methods: forty eyes of 23 patients diagnosed as having hereditary ectopia lentis were included in the study. all the cases were worked up according to the standard protocol and were operated upon. the surgical procedure adopted was pars plana lensectomy with core vitrectomy. endolaser photocoagulation was performed in selected cases. results: forty (40) eyes of 23 patients with ectopia lentis of hereditary type were included in the study. seventeen patients had bilateral and 6 patients had unilateral ectopia lentis. there were 8 male and 15 female patients. age range was 5 - 29 years. preoperative visual acuity was 4 (10%) eyes; 6/24 - 6/60 in 28 (70%) eyes and < 6/60 in 8 (20%) eyes. postoperative corrected visual acuity was 6/6 - 6/9 in 28 (70%) eyes; 6/12 - 6/18 in 4 (10%) eyes; 6/24 - 6/60 in 6 (15%) eyes and less than 6/60 in 2 (5%) eyes. intra-operative complications were accidental iris injury in 1 eye and dropped lens fragment into the vitreous cavity in 1 eye. post-operative complications were transient ocular hypertension in 2 eyes and persistant postoperative uveitis and vitritis in 1 eye. conclusion: pars plana approach for management of ectopia lentis is a safe and effective method of treatment.