Comparative Study of 27-Gauge versus 25-Gauge Vitrectomy for the Treatment of Primary Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment

Purpose. to compare the vitrectomy time,clinical outcomes,and complications between 27-gauge (27-g) and 25-gauge (25-g) vitrectomy in patients with primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (prrd). methods. prospective,nonrandomized,comparative,interventional study. forty consecutive patients with prrd were recruited. twenty patients underwent the 27-gauge procedure and twenty patients had the 25-gauge procedure. the main outcome measure of the study was the actual vitrectomy time. results. the mean duration of vitreous removal was 23.2 min (sd 6.5) with 27-g vitrectomy and 19.6 min (sd 7.3) with 25-g vitrectomy,resulting in a difference of 3.6 min (95% confidence interval (95%ci): -8.0 to 0.8 mins,p=0.11). mean logmar visual acuity improved from 1.70 ± 1.18 preoperatively to 0.12 ± 0.14 at final postoperative visit (p<0.001) in the 27-g group and from 1.52 ± 1.15 preoperatively to 0.22 ± 0.30 at final postoperative visit (p<0.001) in the 25-g group. the anatomical success rate after a single operation was 90.0% and 85.0% in the 27-g and in the 25-g groups (p=0.63),respectively. intraoperative iatrogenic retinal breaks (irbs) occurred in 2 eyes in the 27-g group and 1 eye in the 25-g group. conclusions. twenty-seven-gauge vitrectomy may be a safe and effective surgery for the treatment of prrd. © 2017 stanislao rizzo et al.