Outcomes of a novel bubble ultra‐wide field viewing system for vitreoretinal surgery

• Published in: Acta ophthalmologica (Oxford, England) England), 2022-06, Vol.100 (4), p.e1024-e1030
• Main Authors: Pan, Qin‐tuo, Gao, Zhi‐qiang, Chen, Xu‐hao, Yang, Zheng‐wei, Huang, Sheng‐hai, Hu, Xu‐ting, Zheng, Jing‐wei, Zhang, Zong‐duan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acuity; Anterior chamber; applications; bubble; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetic retinopathy; Endophthalmitis; Eye; Eye surgery; Glaucoma; Hemorrhage; Occlusion; Patients; Retina; Retinopathy; Surgery; ultra‐wide field of view; Visual field; vitreoretinal surgery
• ISSN: 1755-375X; 1755-3768
• DOI: 10.1111/aos.15006

Purpose To report the clinical outcomes and evaluate the efficacy of a novel bubble ultra‐wide field viewing system for vitreoretinal surgery. Design Prospective, noncomparative, interventional case series. Participants One hundred and fifty‐one eyes of 146 consecutive patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), vitreous haemorrhage originating from retinal vein occlusion (VH‐RVO), epiretinal membrane (EM), macular hole (MH) or retinal detachment (RD) who underwent vitreoretinal surgery using the bubble ultra‐wide field viewing system were included. Methods A standard phacoemulsification was performed on each patient. Core humour and mid‐peripheral vitreous humour were removed using a planoconcave lens. A suitably sized bubble was infused to attach to the posterior capsule or the anterior chamber depending on the integrity of the posterior capsule. The planoconcave lens and the air bubble formed the wide‐angle viewing system, through which peripheral vitrectomy was performed. Main Outcome Measures Range of applications, field of view, model validation and complications were recorded. Results The new ultra‐wide field viewing system was successfully applied in all eyes, including 34 with PDR, 28 VH‐RVO, 28 EM, 25 MH and 36 RD. Peripheral vitrectomy, local or panretinal laser photocoagulation, and removal of the peripheral proliferative membrane were successfully performed while viewing through this system. Maximum peripheral retinal area observable during the procedure was positively correlated with pupil diameter. Model analysis results showed that when the pupil diameter was 6 mm, the maximum field of view was approximately 128.1‐ 148.0 degrees with this system. Of 142 eyes, the main intraoperative complication was iatrogenic retinal breaks (IRBs) in 8 eyes (5.3%) and posterior capsule injury by vitreous cutter during bubble removal in 6 eyes (4.2%). The postsurgery mean best‐corrected visual acuity (BCVA) (0.48 ± 0.39 logMAR) was significantly improved compared with the preoperative mean BCVA (1.60 ± 1.08 logMAR, p