Etiologies and surgical outcomes of pediatric retinal detachment in Hong Kong

The purpose of this study was to study the etiologies and operative outcomes of pediatric retinal detachment at a tertiary eye referral center in Hong Kong over a 10-year period. A retrospective study of patients (below 18 years of age) who received primary retinal detachment repair operations at a University Teaching Hospital between 2005 and 2015 was conducted. The study comprised 37 patients with 39 eyes affected who received primary retinal detachment (RD) surgery. Two patients had bilateral RD. 69.2 % were male. The mean follow-up period was 40.6 ± 28.6 months. Their mean age at presentation was 13.4 ± 5.5 years. There were contributing factors for RD identified in 33 eyes (84.6 %), of which congenital/developmental anomalies (23.1 %), high myopia with refractive error greater than −6 diopters (17.9 %), and trauma (15.4 %) ranked the top 3 causes for RD. The retina was reattached after one surgical procedure in 69.2 %. Final anatomical success rate was 82.1 %. Postoperatively, 68.8 % of eyes had improved or stable vision. Functional visual loss with visual acuity less than 5/200 was found to be 30.6 % of eyes which were mostly from younger patients and those with congenital anomalies. Pediatric retinal detachment is often associated with predisposing factors. The presence of congenital/developmental ocular anomalies causing retinal detachment is more frequent in younger children and with worse functional and visual outcomes. Continuing efforts to improve treatment strategies for this group of patients are needed.