Anatomic Success of Scleral Buckling for Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment - A Retrospective Study of 524 Cases

Background/Aim: Our purpose was to investigate the anatomic success
of scleral buckling surgery for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.
Material and Methods: A total of 524 consecutive patients were
retrospectively analysed. Several parameters including the lens
status, number of breaks and extent of retinal detachment,
preoperative proliferative vitreoretinopathy and refractive errors
were examined. The minimum follow-up was 6 months. The primary
success rate was defined as anatomic success being stable over a
period of at least 6 months after surgery. The secondary success
rate was defined as anatomic success after the second intervention
if necessary. Besides an analysis over all patients, the patients
were grouped according to the severity of the preoperative
situation in simple, medium and severe cases. Results: The overall
primary anatomic success rate was 84.7% and the secondary success
rate 96.4% after 1 initial scleral buckling surgery and 1
additional surgery in case of persisting retinal detachment, and
19.1% of the patients with an initially attached retina after 1
scleral buckling surgery experienced a redetachment in the
postoperative course and were successfully treated in 60/85 cases.
In phakic patients (n = 359) the primary success rate was 89.7%,
whereas in pseudophakic patients (n = 165) a primary success rate
of 73.9% was obtained. The primary success was additionally
influenced by the extent of the retinal detachment measured in
clock hours (p