gms | German Medical Science

22nd Annual Meeting of the German Retina Society

German Retina Society

26.06. - 27.06.2009, Berlin

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Heavy silicone oil tamponade in patients with persistent macular holes or recurrent epiretinal membrane formation

Meeting Abstract

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  • Lars-Olof Hattenbach - Eye Clinic of Ludwigshafen
  • F. Höhn - Eye Clinic of Ludwigshafen
  • G. Shishkova - Eye Clinic of Ludwigshafen
  • A. Mirshahi - Eye Clinic of Ludwigshafen

German Retina Society. 22nd Annual Meeting of the German Retina Society. Berlin, 26.-27.06.2009. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2009. DocRG2009-31

doi: 10.3205/09rg32, urn:nbn:de:0183-09rg325

This is the English version of the article.
The German version can be found at: http://www.egms.de/de/meetings/rg2009/09rg32.shtml

Published: June 29, 2009

© 2009 Hattenbach et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Background: To date, the surgical repair of eyes with persistent macular holes or recurrent epiretinal membrane formation remains a therapeutic challenge. However, there is increasing evidence that heavy silicone oil may be an effective alternative to conventional gas tamponade in such patients.

Methods: Four patients with persistent full-thickness macular holes and one patient with recurrent epiretinal membrane formation after previous surgical treatment underwent repair including vitrectomy, extended dye-assisted peel of the inner limiting membrane and heavy silicone oil fill (Densiron 68) of the vitreous cavity. Silicone oil was removed 8 to 12 weeks later in a second operative procedure. All patients underwent full ophthalmologic evaluation including fundus photography, fluorescein angiography and high-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT) prior to surgery and after silicone oil removal. Furthermore, we documented intraoperative and postoperative course.

Results: After removal of heavy silicone oil, all eyes exhibited macular hole closure or flattening of the retina, respectively, with visual stabilization or improvement. These findings were confirmed by HD-OCT.

Conclusion: Our findings support the hypothesis that heavy silicone oil has the potential to improve the prognosis for patients who require repeat macular surgery for persistent macular holes or recurrent epiretinal membrane formation.