Visual acuity of patients of proliferative diabetic retinopathy after vitreoretinal surgery

Objective To observe the visual acuity of different stages of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) eyes after vitrectomy and analyze the risk factors of blindness. Methods A total of 384 eyes of 300 patients underwent vitrectomy for PDR were followed up. All cases were divided into three groups according to different stage of PDR (stage Ⅳ, stage Ⅴ and stage Ⅵ), the effect of vitrectomy were compared among these groups. Results The final visual acuity increased in 271 eyes (70.6%), among them there were 171 eyes (185.5%) in stage Ⅳ-Ⅴ, and 100 eyes (54.3%) in stage Ⅵ, and there was statistical difference between these two groups (χ~2 = 44.78, P< 0.05). 82. 8% of early-treated and 64.6% of middle/late- treated stage Ⅵ patients had postoperative visual acuity above 0. 05 (χ~2= 4. 861, P<0. 05). 39.5% (131 eyes) of 332 eyes with diabetic blindness was still blind after surgery. Conclusion Visual acuity can be improved in the majority of PDR eyes after vitrectomy, early prevention and early treatment are the keys to avoid diabetic blindness. Key words: Diabetic retinopathy/therapy;  Vitrectomy/methods;  Vision, binocular