Subfoveal Choroidal Thickness After Successful Retinal Detachment Repair with Persistent Subretinal Fluid at the Macula

Ahmad M Mansour; Maurizio Battaglia Parodi; Sami H Uwaydat; Luiz H Lima; Suzanne Charbaji; Antonio Marcelo Casella; Lorenzo López-Guajardo; Silvana Belotto; Lihteh Wu; Stephen G Schwartz; William E Smiddy; Mahdi M Hassoun; Eduardo Pérez-Salvador García; Hana A Mansour; Ayman G Elnahry; Rola N Hamam

doi:10.2147/OPTH.S520076

Subfoveal Choroidal Thickness After Successful Retinal Detachment Repair with Persistent Subretinal Fluid at the Macula

Clin Ophthalmol. 2025 Jun 11:19:1847-1854. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S520076. eCollection 2025.

Authors

Ahmad M Mansour^#^{1

2}, Maurizio Battaglia Parodi^#³, Sami H Uwaydat⁴, Luiz H Lima⁵, Suzanne Charbaji⁶, Antonio Marcelo Casella⁷, Lorenzo López-Guajardo⁸, Silvana Belotto⁹, Lihteh Wu¹⁰, Stephen G Schwartz¹¹, William E Smiddy¹¹, Mahdi M Hassoun¹, Eduardo Pérez-Salvador García¹², Hana A Mansour¹³, Ayman G Elnahry^{14

15}, Rola N Hamam¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
² Department of Ophthalmology, Rafic Hariri University Hospital, Beirut, Lebanon.
³ Department of Ophthalmology, University Vita-Salute Milan, Milan, Italy.
⁴ Jones Eye Institute, University of Arkansas Medical School, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
⁵ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Federal University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
⁶ Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
⁷ Department of Ophthalmology, Londrina State University, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil.
⁸ Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.
⁹ Institut Català de Retina, Barcelona, Spain.
¹⁰ Asociados de Macula Vitreo y Retina de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
¹¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA.
¹² Servicio de Oftalmología del Hospital Universitario de Burgos, Burgos, Spain.
¹³ Wills Eye Hospital, Thomas Jefferson Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Ophthalmology, Kasr Al-Ainy Hospitals, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
¹⁵ BayCare Clinic Eye Specialists, Greenbay, Wisconsin, USA.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objective: To explore the relationship between subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) and persistent subretinal fluid (pSRF) at the macula after successful rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) surgery.

Methods: This is a retrospective multicenter comparative study of Caucasian subjects with successful RRD repair. SFCT was measured in 2 groups: Group 1 with persistent subretinal fluid (pSRF) 1 month after repair, and Group 2 with absence of pSRF. SFCT was measured by a masked observer based on ImageJ. Multiple regression analyses were implemented to control for age, refraction, and gender.

Results: Surgery type was as follows: Group 1 (24 scleral buckle SB, 23 pars plana vitrectomy PPV, 9 SB+PPV, and 5 pneumoretinopexy), and Group 2 (68 PPV). Adjusted mean 1-month SFCT was thicker in Group 1 than in Group 2 by 41.0 µm (p = 0.049). Within Group 1, PPV subgroup tended to have thinner SFCT than the other subgroups by: SB (117.4 µm), SB-PPV (9.3) and pneumoretinopexy (1.2 µm) (all p>0.05). SFCT at 1-month was not different between pSRF (237.5±77.2 µm) and no pSRF (213.7±72.1 µm) in PPV groups (p=0.2).

Conclusion: SFCT post PPV appeared similar in eyes with or without pSRF. In eyes with pSRF, SFCT tended to be thicker following SB compared to PPV.

Keywords: choroid; choroidal thickness; optical coherence tomography; pars plana vitrectomy; persistent subretinal fluid; pneumoretinopexy; rhegmatogenous retinal detachment; scleral buckling; subfoveal choroidal thickness.

Plain language summary

What was known before:Persistent subretinal fluid one month after successful retinal detachment surgery is associated with a thicker choroid and pachychoroid. What this study adds:Persisting subretinal fluid one month after successful retinal detachment repair by pars plana vitrectomy is not influenced by the subfoveal choroidal thickness.Scleral buckle leads to increased subfoveal choroidal thickness due to compression of the choroid.