Treatment of proliferative diabetic retinopathy with panretinal cryotherapy.

Panretinal cryoablation was performed on 100 eyes with retinal neovascularization and vitreous hemorrhage. Of those 100 eyes, 70 had neovascularization and recurrent hemorrhage despite previous panretinal laser photocoagulation, and 30 eyes had media opacities precluding laser treatment. Sixty applications, random and focal, were placed in each eye. Forty-six percent of eyes achieved better visual acuity, 32% were unchanged, and 22% were worse. Eighty-three percent of eyes had vision of 20/200 or better. In eyes without prior laser photocoagulation, 83% were clear of vitreous hemorrhage following cryoablation, and in eyes with previous panretinal photocoagulation, 75% were free of vitreous hemorrhage after cryoablation.