pISSN: 1011-8942 eISSN: 2092-9382 Korean J Ophthalmol 2011;25(6):394-400 http://dx.doi.org/10.3341/kjo.2011.25.6.394 Original Article Surgical Outcomes for Primary Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachments in Patients with Pseudophakia after Phacoemulsification Ji Won Lim, Soo Jeong Ryu Department of Ophthalmology, Hallym University Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital, Chuncheon, Korea Purpose: To evaluate the clinical features and surgical outcomes for primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachments (RDs) in patients with pseudophakia after phacoemulsification. Methods: The medical records of patients with pseudophakia after phacoemulsification and intraocular lens im- plantation who had undergone surgery for primary rhegmatogenous RDs with a minimum duration of follow-up of 12 months were reviewed retrospectively. Results: A total of 104 patients were enrolled in this study and 106 eyes were analyzed. Post-operative retinal at- tachment was achieved in 87 of the eyes (82.1%) and the final visual acuities (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) were improved to 0.65 ± 0.49 from the baseline measurement of 1.51 ± 1.14 (p < 0.001). Re-oper- ations were performed in 24 of the eyes (22.6%) and there were no visible retinal breaks in 30 of the eyes (28.3%). The failure to identify a retinal break during surgery was associated with a lower rate of retinal reattach- ment, worse final visual acuity, and a higher rate of re-operation (p = 0.002, p = 0.02, and p = 0.002, respectively). The location of the identified retinal break was more common in the superotemporal quadrant than in the other quadrants. Conclusions: The inability to identify a retinal break during surgery was associated with a poor final outcome. Other factors were less important for the functional and anatomic success in patients with pseudophakic RDs. Key Words: Phacoemulsification, Pseudophakia, Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment With the increase in the number of cataract operations, pseudophakic retinal detachment (RD) will comprise an in- creasing proportion of rhegmatogenous RDs in the coming years [1-3]. The development of phacoemulsification and the intraocular lens as a technique for cataract removal has re- placed cataract surgery as it is much less intrusive and a more curative procedure [4]. However, most studies pertaining to patients with pseudophakic RDs were reported long ago and they only included intra- or extra-capsular cataract extraction or cases in which the iris or anterior chamber lenses were fix- ated [5]. The surgical techniques for RD have continued to develop and RD after surgery has more favorable outcomes Received: November 9, 2009 Accepted: February 8, 2011 Corresponding Author: Ji Won Lim, MD, PhD. Department of Ophthalmology, Hallym University Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital, #153 Gyo-dong, Chuncheon 200-060, Korea. Tel: 82-33-240-5176, Fax: 82-33-255-5210, E-mail: jiwoneye@hallym.or.kr with the development of new instruments. In this study, we report the clinical features and surgical outcomes for primary rhegmatogenous RD in patients with pseudophakia after phacoemulsification. Materials and Methods This was a retrospective study that included consecutive cases undergoing surgery for primary rhegmatogenous RD in patients with pseudophakia after phacoemulsification be- tween the dates of January 2000 and June 2008 that had a fol- low-up duration of at least 12 months. Eyes were excluded from the study if they had non-primary rhegmatogenous RDs, such as from trauma, RDs associated with coloboma, uveitis, or glaucoma, RDs with a macular hole, or had an ax- ial length >26 mm. Patients were excluded from the study if they had atopic dermatitis or if they had a pre-operative pro- liferative vitreoretinopathy grade C-1 or higher according to the Retina Society Classification [6]. ⓒ 2011 The Korean Ophthalmological Society This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses /by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 394