Tag: Retina

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Retinal Detachments Treatments

Silicone Oil for Retinal Detachments

Silicone oil is used for recurrent retinal detachments or complicated retinal detachments including PVR (proliferative vitreoretinopathy).  It can be a valuable tool to prevent blindness.

Most retinal detachments are caused by a retinal tear, or hole, in the retina.  In either case, this allows for communication between the vitreous cavity and the potential space underneath the retina.  Fluid may leave the vitreous and accumulate underneath the retina, causing a rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (rhegma = with a hole).

A vitrectomy with gas with or without a scleral buckle are common ways to surgically repair retinal detachments.

Recurrent Retinal Detachments

Occasionally, a retina can redetach and usually shortly after the first surgery.  Common reasons include an additional retinal tear, or, it is conceivable that an extra tear(s) was overlooked and not treated.

Options include repeating the vitrectomy with gas and possibly adding a scleral buckle if one is not present.  This usually does the trick.

Recurrent Detachments and PVR

Repeated retinal detachments due to additional tears usually persuades me to consider using silicone oil to fix the detachment.  In addition, a condition called proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) often requires using silicone oil.

PVR can cause retinal detachments as membranes (scar tissue) form on the surface of the retina and start to pull.  This pulling can cause multiple retinal tears.

How Intraocular Gas Fixes Retinal Detachments

Intraocular gas works by “plugging” the retinal tears or retinal holes.  The gas bubble, when properly positioned against the tear/hole, prevents fluid from getting underneath the retina causing a recurrent detachment. As the gas is absorbed, the bubble will become so small that any untreated or new hole will be uncovered.  Thus, the retina can detach again.

How Silicone Oil Repairs Retinal Detachments

Think of silicone oil as a non-absorbable gas bubble.  Since the silicone oil is not absorbed, it stays large enough to always cover the holes.  This makes it highly unlikely that a redetachment can occur.

Is Intraocular Gas Better than Silicone Oil

Normally, intraocular gas is preferred as it eventually absorbs after reattaching the retina.  A separate procedure is not required to remove the gas.

Silicone oil does require removal and the vision is usually poor with the oil in the eye, however, when warranted, the oil is likely to prevent re-detachment.

What Does This Mean?

Silicone oil is a great tool to repair retinal detachments.  Repeated operations can be mentally straining and can be a hardship on the patient and family.  Also, with each new detachment, the likelihood of permanent vision loss increases, thus, the fewer detachments the better.

Too many retinal physicians, using silicone oil is a last resort to keeping the retina attached.  Often doctors wait until the retina has detached 3-4 times before considering oil (in fairness, I used to be one of them).

My belief is that oil should be used earlier to stop the vicious cycle of re-detachment and re-operation.  By preventing recurrent detachments, the vision can be better preserved in these complicated cases.

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“Other” Eye Conditions Retinal Detachments

Retinal Tears and Vitreous Hemorrhage

Vitrectomy for Retinal Tear to Remove Vitreous HemorrhageA vitreous hemorrhage may be caused by a retinal tear.  Sometimes there is so much blood in the eye that direct examination is impossible and we can only guess at the most likely cause.  It is the most difficult situation for me to handle as a doctor.

Patients lose significant vision as the blood in the middle of the eye physically blocks all light from hitting the retina.  While this is usually not permanent visual loss, the blood makes it difficult to make a definitive diagnosis as it can be impossible to see the retina.

Normally, without blood in the eye, a retinal tear may be easily diagnosed and treated with laser.

While there are other causes of vitreous hemorrhage, such as diabetic retinopathy, retinal vascular disease and others.  Still, a retinal tear causing the vitreous bleeding is quite likely.

Retinal Tears Cause Retinal Detachments

A retinal tear can cause a retinal detachment.  A retinal detachment is potentially blinding.

In cases of vitreous hemorrhage, the patient cant’ see “out” and I can’t see “in.”  My ability to examine the eye is hindered.

Options at this point are to observe (i.e. do nothing).  Observing the eye is okay as the blood is doing no harm.  But what if there is a retinal tear?  A retinal detachment could occur if there is an undiagnosed retinal tear.

Other tests, such as an ultrasound can often detect a large tear, but it is not as good as directly examining the eye.  Operating to remove the blood to facilitate proper examination is an option, too.

What Does This Mean?

I am getting older, more aggressive, but smarter.

As I have aged, i.e. gained more experience, I have become more comfortable operating in these cases.  When I was younger, I would often hesitate because I was uncomfortable offering surgery in a situation where surgery might not be necessary, but I’ve learned (through experience) that watching a waiting can be more problematic.

Most of the time I recommend operating to at least remove the blood and confirm a diagnosis.  The risks of modern vitrectomy are quite low, while the risk of a retinal detachment occurring while we are waiting is quite possible.

Vitrectomy surgery is usually performed as an outpatient.  If a tear is indeed present, it can be treated simultaneously.

At the very least, a diagnosis can be made and a potentially blinding condition avoided.

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Macular Degeneration Treatments

Implantable Telescope is Available!

CentraSight Now Available, CMS to reimburse for implantable telescope to treat macular degeneration

CentraSight, the implantable telescope for macular degeneration, is now available! CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) has approved the telescope for those patients with macular degeneration meeting the eligibility criteria for the surgical procedure.

Medicare/Medicaid will cover the cost of the implant and the surgery in certain patients as October 1, 2011! For now, the procedure has a designation of a transitional pass-through payment, that is, CMS will approve the procedure for 2-3 years until enough payment data can be collected.

The Telescope Improves Vision

To achieve this milestone, Visioncare, the parent company, needed to show that the implantable telescope for macular degeneration met several criteria;

  • FDA Approval
  • CMS deems reasonable and necessary
  • Device offers Substantial Clinical Improvement

FDA Approval: VisionCare received FDA approval for their telescope last August.

Substantial Clinical Improvement may be difficult to attain as the device must surpass some steep challenges.  In order to achieve this status, one of the following situations must be true;

  1. the new device must be better than other available treatments
  2. the device improves the ability to diagnose a condition
  3. the device significantly improves the patient (i.e. clinical outcomes)

Availability of the CentraSight Telescope

For now, according to my contact at VisionCare, CentraSight will be offered at the locations where the original clinical trials were performed.  This has been their plan all along.  With time, as more physicians become trained, the availability will widen.

What Does This Mean? This is the first real step to helping patients with significant visual loss in both eyes.  The surgery to insert the “telesope” is similar to cataract implantation, yet the CentraSight will modify the images so more of the retina surrounding the macula is utilized for vision.

While patients with either form of the disease might be candidates, this is the first FDA sanctioned “therapy” for patients with severe loss of vision from dry ARMD.

This is not a cure or a “fix” for loss of central vision, however, the telescope does improve function for those that have no central vision from the disease and can lead to am improvement in the quality of life.

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Retina Treatments Video

Vitrectomy Eye Surgery for Macular Pucker

This is my first patient education video.  I uploaded this last evening to YouTube.  It is one of the best I’ve seen for a super niche like eye surgery.

Vitrectomy Surgery

As I state in the video, vitrectomy surgery is performed by retina specialists.  I completed extra training to specialize and to perform retinal surgery.

A vitrectomy is the core operation for many of the surgical diseases we treat.  For instance, a vitrectomy is used to remove an epiretinal membrane (ERM), fix a macular hole or repair a retinal detachment.  A vitrectomy can remove floaters.

It is very similar to arthroscopic surgery or laparoscopic surgery in that all the systems are “closed.”

Patient is Awake and Comfortable

Most of my procedures are performed while the patient is awake.  Before surgery, the patient receives a sedative, putting them to sleep for a few minutes while the entire eye is numbed.

This “IV sedation” or “twilight” form of anesthesia is quite popular in most outpatient surgical settings.  It avoids the rigors of general anesthesia.

By the way, the operation is completely painless!  I am usually able to talk to my patients while operating.

25 Gauge Instrumentation:  No Stitches!

The instruments used have revolutionized vitrectomy surgery.  The instruments are so thin, that we no longer have to take time to stitch the eye.  This improves efficiency (shortens operating times), but also causes less tissue damage and greatly speeds up healing time (fewer office visits).

What Does This Mean?

You’ve probably noticed that you see more and more video.  It’s a great medium, it captures your attention via audio and video, the costs of equipment are miniscule and the video quality is exeptional.

I produced this entire video at home using iMovie (Apple).  The operation took about 16 minutes in real time.  Many thanks to Meredith Maclauchlan for her skill in adding the special effects and background!

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