CLINICAL FEATURES AND SURGICAL OUTCOMES OF SCLERAL BUCKLE SURGERY FOR PRIMARY RHEGMATOGENOUS RETINAL DETACHMENT: MOORFIELDS BUCKLE STUDY

Abstract

Purpose: Long-term study to evaluate the clinical and surgical outcomes of SB surgery for primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) at a large tertiary eye center. Methods: Non-comparative, retrospective case series of 589 eyes of 569 patients with primary RRD who underwent SB surgery between 2004 and 2022 with median follow-up of 6 months. Main outcome measures were best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), surgical outcomes, complications, and classification of RRD. Results: At baseline, 447/589 (76.1%), round hole-RRD and 133/589 (22.7%) retinal dialysis-RRD. Overall primary SB success rate was 83.7% for all RD subtypes, with round hole-RD 84.8% and dialysis-RRD 81.2%. Overall, Baseline BCVA was logMAR 0.42 and final logMAR 0.26 (p<0.0001). In macula-OFF RRD, the BCVA significantly improved from 0.79 to 0.48 logMAR (p<0.0001). Macula-ON RRD patients improved from 0.19 to 0.12 logMAR (p=0.014). Binary logistic regression showed registrar surgeon grade (OR 0.09,95% CI 0.01- 0.55), and partial or complete PVD (OR 0.21,95% CI 0.10 – 0.49) associated with reduced odds of primary success. Higher surgical failure associated with low pre-fellowship SB surgeon experience (p=0.024). Conclusion: We report favourable visual and functional outcomes in a large series of SB for primary retinal detachment, mainly for round hole and retinal dialysis RRD patients.