as well as periods of time wasted outside the globe such as during exchange of the infusion bottle or getting a new light probe were excluded from the time of surgery and the actual surgical time was calculated by adding the time periods during which the instruments were inside the globe through strict revision of the video tapes. The decision to use gas- air mixture or air or silicone oil was taken intraoperatively. The rationale for using silicone oil were; multiple breaks, relaxing retinotomies, and highly active retinal neovascu- larization with signiﬁcant intraoperative bleeding predictive of postoperative hemorrhage and in cases requiring re-PPV. Postoperative complications including corneal erosions, recurrent vitreous hemorrhage, reproliferation, cataract, rubeosis, neovascular glaucoma, retinal detachment, were recorded. Complications related to IVA including increase of traction and any systemic side effects were recorded. All cases completed a minimum follow up of 6 months. Bevacizumab injection 1.25 mg in 0.05 mL bevacizumab (Avastin, Genentech) was injected intravitreally under complete sterile preparation in the operating theater in the usual sterile fashion (Aiello et al 2004) using topical anesthesia. Prophylactic topical antibiotic (moxiﬂoxacine) was given for 3 days postinjection. PPV Standard 3-port PPV utilizing Alcon Accurus surgical system. All surgeries were performed by the same surgeon. Preretinal ﬁbrovascular membranes were removed using dif- ferent techniques including membrane peeling, segmentation, delamination and en bloc dissection. High speed 23 gauge cutters up to 2500 cuts/minute were used to cut membranes very close to the retina. Bimanual technique was used when- ever needed to safely remove membranes using the 27-gauge Eckardt twin light chandelier (D.O.R.C). PFCL was used to stabilize the retina during membrane dissection whenever required. Complete panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) was done at the end of surgery. Single raw of cryotherapy is applied to the anterior retinal and around the sclerotomy sites in an attempt to quell ﬁbrovascular ingrowth and subsequent hemorrhage. No internal limiting membrane peeling was done in any of the surgeries. The internal tamponade used was decided intraoperatively, either air, Sf6/air mixture 20%, or silicone oil. Statistical analysis Visual acuity was measured using Snellen’s chart and was converted to Log MAR for calculation of the means. Values Clinical Ophthalmology 2008:2(4) Intravitreal bevacizumab and diabetic vitrectomy were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Lines of vision lost or gained were calculated as Snellen’s lines of vision (via Log MAR). The Wilcoxon test was used for continuous variables as age and a chi square test for categorical variables. P 0.05 was considered statistically signiﬁcant. Software used was Stata version 6.0 (StataCorp, College Station, TX) (Winner 1971). Results Group 1 – PPV Preoperative data The age of the patients ranged between 24 and 65 years with a mean of 46 ± 12 years. Six cases had diabetes mellitus (DM) type Ι and 9 had type 2. All cases except 1 had previous PRP treatment. The distribution of cases according to indication for surgery was shown in Table 1. Mean preoperative visual acuity was 0.016 ± 6.2 lines (mean Log mar 1.81± 0.62) (range between HM and 0.1). Six cases (40%) had visual acuity of 0.05 or better. Cataract phaco-surgery was done in 2 cases. Intraoperative data Mean surgical time was 93.3 ± 11.6 minutes (range 70 to 110 minutes). Mean bleeding frequency was 6.8 ± 1.5 times/case (range between 4 and 9 bleeding attacks/case). Intraoperative bleeding was encountered in all cases. Diathermy was used in all cases with frequency of 4.6 ± 1.2 times/case (range 2 to 6 times). Dissection under PFCL was used in 8 cases (53.3%). Iatrogenic breaks were reported in 6 cases (40%) and relaxing retinotomies in 4 cases (26.6%). Regarding intraoperative tamponade, gas was used in 6 cases (40%) and silicone oil in 9 cases (60%). The use of silicone was related to relax- ing retinotomies and multiple breaks in 4 cases and active bleeding neovascularization in 5 cases (33.3%). Postoperative data Mean follow up period was 11.7 ± 3.04 months (range 7–17 months). Anatomical attachment was achieved in 13 out of 15 cases (86.6%), 2 cases (13.3%) detached due to reproliferation. Final visual acuity showed improvement in 12 cases (80%), stabilized in 2 cases (13.3%) and deteriorated in 1 eye (6.7%). The mean ﬁnal visual acuity reached 0.12 ± 6.7 lines (mean Log mar 0.91 ± 0.67) (range HM −0.5). This improvement of mean visual acuity was statistically signiﬁcant (p1 = 0.003). Four cases (26.6%) reached 20/50 or better. Postoperative complications Persistent cataract was reported in 7 cases (46.7 %) (all were silicone oil cases). Two cases (13.3%) developed gas 711