Subthreshold micro-impulse laser coagulation of retinal detachment in children

Abstract

Retinal detachment in children often requires multiple revisions. Despite active surgical treatment, subretinal fluid can persist for a long time in the macular region of the fundus. This leads to a decrease in visual acuity after surgery and an unsatisfactory functional result of treatment. In the absence of central vision, children develop amblyopia and secondary strabismus. Reoperations increase the risk of complications. Threshold laser coagulation leads to thermal burns of all layers of the retina with the formation of chorioretinal adhesion, which ensures adhesion of the retinal layers, but irreversibly damages the retinal neuroepithelium. Аs a result, the use of threshold laser coagulation in the macular zone is limited. The method of subthreshold micropulse diode laser ablation (STDLA) was developed on the basis of a clinical examination of 44 pediatric patients of the pediatric ophthalmology department of the Minsk Regional Children's Clinical Hospital, whose level of subretinal fluid in the posterior pole of the eyes remained for a long time after extrascleral surgery for retinal detachment. The proposed exposure parameters provide a selective effect on the cells of the retinal pigment epithelium with laser radiation in the micropulse mode without irreversible thermal denaturation of photoreceptors and without damage to the neuroepithelium in order to stimulate the resorption of subretinal fluid and correct transudative disorders. As a result, the adhesion of the retinal photoreceptor layer to the pigment epithelium is restored. The effectiveness of the method is confirmed by a decrease or complete disappearance of subretinal fluid, adhesion of neuroepithelium according to optical coherence tomography and leads to an increase in visual acuity. The proposed method made it possible to optimize the treatment of children with retinal detachment, to improve the anatomical and functional outcomes of treatment, which is of medical and socio-economic importance.