Combined Vitrectomy, Phacoemulsification

© 2007 Elsevier. All rights reserved. Patients with coexisting cataract and vitreoretinal diseases may benefit from one combined surgery instead of separate surgical procedures. The combined surgery entails less anesthetic risk and facilitates immediate diagnosis and treatment of vitreoretinal complications associated with the underlying ocular diseases [1]. For eyes with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), there have been concerns that diabetic retinopathy may worsen following cataract extraction [2,3], and that there may be an increased incidence of rubeosis iridis and neovascular glaucoma (NVG) following removal of the crystalline lens in vitrectomized eyes [4–6]. Intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in eyes of PDR patients is controversial [7]. However, some studies have shown that posterior chamber intraocular lens (PCIOL) are well tolerated in eyes with nonproliferative as well as quiescent PDR [8–10]. In Kadonosono et al’s [11] report, the incidence of postoperative rubeosis was significantly lower, and the visual results were satisfactory with vitrectomy combined with phacoemulsification (phacovitrectomy) and PCIOL implantation for PDR. In this study, we retrospectively compared vitrectomy alone and vitrectomy combined with phacoemulsification and IOL implantation with regard to both complications and results.