Prevention of experimental massive peri-retinal proliferation by 5-fluoro-uracil.

An intermediate report, on the effect of 1 mg 5-Fluoro-uracil on prevention of intra-vitreal fibroblast proliferation, strand formation and traction retinal detachment development in rabbits, is presented. The drug, which appeared to be nontoxic to the ocular tissues, prevented significantly the development of vitreous strands and traction retinal detachment in 10 out of 19 eyes (detachment rate, 47.3%), in comparison to 18 (control) eyes, out of 19, that did develop intravitreal strand and traction retinal detachment (94.7%).