Purpose: To determine indications and document anatomic and functional outcomes for lens-sparing vitreous surgery in eyes with predominantly posterior persistent fetal vasculature syndrome and nonaxial lens opacification.
Study design: Retrospective interventional clinical series.
Methods: The authors performed lens-sparing vitreous surgery on nine eyes of infants with predominantly posterior persistent fetal vasculature syndrome and nonaxial lens opacification without removing the crystalline lens. Indications for surgery included primarily posterior complications of persistent fetal vasculature syndrome (localized tractional retinal detachment), a centrally clear lenticular axis, and frequently strabismus.
Results: Postoperatively, seven of nine eyes showed no evidence of increasing lens opacification with a median follow-up period of 16.8 months (range, 5-29 months). The first eye operated on developed a rapidly progressive cataract and prompted modification of the surgical technique. One additional eye also required cataract extraction for progressive lenticular opacification 23 months after surgery. No eyes developed postoperative retinal detachment, and all eyes maintained vision at the final follow-up. Of the seven eyes with strabismus, five improved after vitreous surgery alone, and two required additional strabismus surgery.
Conclusions: This series shows that, in selected cases of persistent fetal vasculature syndrome that are predominantly posterior in nature with nonaxial lens opacification, lens-sparing vitrectomy can be of benefit.