Treating avulsed vessels with a temporary balloon buckle.

We treated nine patients with avulsed retinal vessels by first expanding a balloon in the parabulbar space to buckle the vessel temporarily and then applying a laser beam to the avulsed segment. In three patients the avulsed vessel was an artery and in six it was a vein. The avulsion was the only abnormality in three patients; in six it was combined with a retinal break, which was accompanied by a detachment in five. The balloon brought the avulsed portion of the vessel into contact with the retina and the pigment epithelium and made it receptive to laser coagulation. Flow in the vessel could be slowed or stopped while the patient was undergoing laser treatment by further expanding the balloon.