Objective

To evaluate the outcomes of patients undergoing pneumatic retinopexy (PR) performed by vitreoretinal fellows at 6 academic centers in the United States.

Design

Retrospective, multicenter, consecutive case series.

Participants

483 patients with primary retinal detachments who underwent PR by 49 vitreoretinal fellows from 6 U.S. training sites between 2002 and 2016.

Methods

We reviewed medical records of patients and recorded baseline clinical characteristics (age, sex, baseline visual acuity, lens status, presence of lattice degeneration, presence of vitreous hemorrhage, location of retinal breaks, macular status, and size of detachment), visual and anatomic outcomes at 3-months after PR, as well as training level and PR experience of the fellow at the time of the procedure.

Main outcome measures

Single-procedure anatomic success and visual acuity at 3-months follow-up, and association with clinical and training-related factors.

Results

Vitreoretinal fellows performed a variable number of PR, with a median of 7 cases per fellow (range 1-24). Single-procedure anatomic success was 66.8%, and mean LogMAR visual outcome was 0.43 (Snellen equivalent 20/54) at 3 months. Factors that were independently associated with single-procedure success include phakic lens status (P = 0.01), smaller size of retinal detachment (P = 0.02), and the fellow's procedure experience (P = 0.01). The only factor associated with worse visual outcome was baseline visual acuity (P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Vitreoretinal fellows perform variably few pneumatic retinopexies but have outcomes comparable to reported rates by experienced specialists. Procedure experience of individual fellows may impact anatomic outcomes.