Compliance to Ophthalmic Follow-up Examinations Affect Outcome of Vitrectomy for Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

The medical records of 94 patients that had undergone vitreous surgery for proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and were followed for at least 6 months were reviewed. The subjects were divided into three groups; the never-treated group consisting of patients who had no previous ophthalmic examination until the first visit when vitreous surgery was prescribed; the non-compliant group consisting of patients with a history of missing ophthalmic examination over a one year period, and the compliant group consisting of patients who had ophthalmic examinations at least once a year. The evaluations included age, gender, plasma level of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) at the preoperative examination, presence of preoperative panretinal photocoagulation, preoperative best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), postoperative BCVA at the final examination, status of the PDR, the numbers of vitreous surgeries, and presence of pre- and postoperative neovascular glaucoma.