Alterations in Subfoveal Choroidal Thickness after Pars Plana Vitrectomy in Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment Associated with Choroidal Detachment

Objective: To observe the changes in subfoveal choroidal thickness after pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) in patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment associated with choroidal detachment (RRDCD). Methods: This was a retrospective case control study. Thirty-five RRDCD patients whose retinas had been reset successfully after a single operation in the Eye Center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University from January 2016 to October 2017 were included in the study. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP) and subfoveal choroidal thickness (SCT) were measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and recorded at 1 day, 1 week, 1 month and 3 months after the operation. Thirty-six patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) whose retinas had been successfully reset served as the experimental control group and 40 patients from a normal population served as normal control group. Results: One day and 1 week after surgery, the SCTs in groups RRDCD and RRD were thicker than that of normal control group (1 day: t=9.220, P<0.001; t=6.826, P<0.001. 1 week: t=4.341, P=0.011; t=2.849, P=0.034), but there were no significant differences between the two groups overall. Three months after the operation, there was no significant difference in the SCT between the RRD group and the normal group (t=1.597, P=0.646), while the SCT in group RRDCD was thinner than that of both the normal and RRD groups (t=-3.144, P=0.028; t=-6.207, P=0.010). Correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between SCT and BCVA in group RRDCD at 3 months after the operation (r=0.399, P=0.017). There was no significant correlation between SCT and BCVA in group RRD at 3 months after the operation (r=0.109, P=0.529). Conclusions: SCT become to be thin, and is related to BCVA can be used as a clinical indicator for evaluating the therapeutic effect of RRDCD. Key words: rhegmatogenous retinal detachment; choroidal detachment; choroidal thickness