Immediate Sequential Bilateral Pediatric Vitreoretinal Surgery: An International Multicenter Study.

PURPOSE:To determine the feasibility and safety of bilateral simultaneous vitreoretinal surgery in pediatric patients. DESIGN:International, multicenter, interventional, retrospective case series. PARTICIPANTS:Patients 17 years of age or younger from 24 centers worldwide who underwent immediate sequential bilateral vitreoretinal surgery (ISBVS)-defined as vitrectomy, scleral buckle, or lensectomy using the vitreous cutter-performed in both eyes sequentially during the same anesthesia session. METHODS:Clinical history, surgical details and indications, time under anesthesia, and intraoperative and postoperative ophthalmic and systemic adverse events were reviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Ocular and systemic adverse events. RESULTS:A total of 344 surgeries from 172 ISBVS procedures in 167 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the cohort was 1.3±2.6 years. Nonexclusive indications for ISBVS were rapidly progressive disease (74.6%), systemic morbidity placing the child at high anesthesia risk (76.0%), and residence remote from surgery location (30.2%). The most common diagnoses were retinopathy of prematurity (ROP; 72.7% [P < 0.01]; stage 3, 4.8%; stage 4A, 44.4%; stage 4B, 22.4%; stage 5, 26.4%), familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (7.0%), abusive head trauma (4.1%), persistent fetal vasculature (3.5%), congenital cataract (1.7%), posterior capsular opacification (1.7%), rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (1.7%), congenital X-linked retinoschisis (1.2%), Norrie disease (2.3%), and viral retinitis (1.2%). Mean surgical time was 143±59 minutes for both eyes. Higher ROP stage correlated with longer surgical time (P = 0.02). There were no reported intraoperative ocular complications. During the immediate postoperative period, 2 eyes from different patients demonstrated unilateral vitreous hemorrhage (0.6%). No cases of endophthalmitis, choroidal hemorrhage, or hypotony occurred. Mean total anesthesia time was 203±87 minutes. There were no cases of anesthesia-related death, malignant hyperthermia, anaphylaxis, or cardiac event. There was 1 case of reintubation (0.6%) and 1 case of prolonged oxygen desaturation (0.6%). Mean follow-up after surgery was 103 weeks, and anatomic success and globe salvage rates were 89.8% and 98.0%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:This study found ISBVS to be a feasible and safe treatment paradigm for pediatric patients with bilateral vitreoretinal pathologic features when repeated general anesthesia is undesirable or impractical.