Pars plana vitrectomy in ocular Behçet's disease.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the results of pars plana vitrectomy in Behçet patients with dense vitreous opacities, and its effect on intraocular inflammatory episodes and visual prognosis.

METHODS

The study group consisted of nine patients (one eye in eight patients, both eyes in one) with Behçet's disease who underwent pars plana vitrectomy because of dense vitreous opacification. The indications for vitrectomy, the effect of vitrectomy on the frequency of severe intraocular inflammatory episodes, and visual prognosis were investigated in these patients. All the patients were male, and their ages ranged between 28-45 years. Combined lensectomy was performed on those with complicated cataracts. The postoperative follow-up was between 12-66 months.

RESULTS

In all of the patients preoperative visual acuity was hand motions. Postoperatively there was no change in vision in five eyes, however visual acuity improved in five eyes, between counting fingers and 0.4. None of the patients showed any severe postoperative intraocular inflammatory episodes, and phthisis did not develop in any of the patients.

CONCLUSION

In this study, pars plana vitrectomy was found to have a beneficial effect on the prognosis of vision. There was also a decrease in the frequency of severe intraocular inflammatory episodes in patients with Behçet's disease with severe vitreous opacities, who did not respond to maximum medical treatment. However, further studies on larger groups should be performed in order to confirm the findings of this study.