Pars plana vitrectomy. Vitrectomy technique in anterior segment surgery.

Instrumentation and techniques developed primarily for vitreoretinal surgery were used to treat 20 eyes with an occluded or inadequate pupillary space and 5 aphakic eyes with complications caused by formed vitreous in the anterior chamber. A pars plana approach was used in 19 eyes and a limbus approach was used in 6 eyes. In every eye an adequate pupillary space was provided and all formed vitreous was removed from the anterior segment. No intraoperative complications occurred. This new approach to selected cases of anterior segment surgery offers several advantages over conventional techniques. A larger number of cases and longer period of follow-up are necessary to further define the specific indications and limitations of this technique.