Induced posterior vitreous detachment by intravitreal sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) injection in patients with nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy.

PURPOSE

To induce posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) in patients with nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) by injecting an intravitreal gas bubble of SF6 and to compare the evolution of the diabetic retinopathy between eyes with gas induced PVD and non-injected eyes without PVD.

METHODS

An intravitreal gas bubble of SF6 was injected via the pars plana in twelve eyes of twelve patients with NPDR and no previous PVD. Subsequent clinical, ultrasonographic and angiographic controls were performed to evaluate the development of PVD and progression of the disease.

RESULTS

All gas-injected eyes developed PVD. All eyes with induced PVD (treatment group) remained stable without progression of the retinopathy after 2 years of follow up. In the control group (contralateral eyes without PVD), two eyes (16.6%) progressed to proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) (p= 0.23); five (41.6%) showed progression to more severe stages of NPDR (p= 0.01) and another 41.6% of such eyes remained stable.

CONCLUSIONS

Intravitreal SF6 injection induced PVD in all eyes of our study without undesirable side effects. Further studies are necessary to make conclusions regarding the correlation between the presence of induced PVD and the progression of diabetic retinopathy.