FRIDAY, Oct. 14 (HealthDay News) -- About half of HIV patients who have a CMV retinitis-associated retinal detachment (RD) that is repaired with silicone oil will experience a re-detachment if the oil is removed, according to a report in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
William R. Freeman, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues performed a retrospective, noncomparative study of 15 RDs caused by CMV retinitis in 14 HIV patients. Each patient had the RD repaired initially with the use of silicone oil infusion and eventually had the oil removed. Removal is often necessary to improve vision impairments caused by the oil.
The authors found that 53% of the treated eyes suffered a re-detachment within a median of four months after oil removal. Risk factors included coincident cataract surgery and lower CD4-positive T-cell counts. The authors recommend that silicone oil be removed with caution and only after carefully considering the associated risk factors.
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