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Bilateral vitrectomy in retinopathy of prematurity: reported outcomes across studies

Eye (2026)Cite this article

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Immediate sequential bilateral vitreoretinal surgery (ISBVS) is used in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) when both eyes show advanced disease requiring urgent intervention. Although staged procedures reduce bilateral surgical risk, they delay treatment and require repeated anaesthesia [1]. We aimed to identify reported anatomic outcomes, perioperative risks, and complications of ISBVS in ROP, and to highlight areas where data remain insufficient. We hypothesised that ISBVS is a safe and feasible alternative to unilateral vitreoretinal surgery in the management of ROP.

This review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA and the Declaration of Helsinki (Fig. S1). On August 19, 2025, MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, and CENTRAL were searched for studies published between January 1980 and August 2025. Screening, extraction, and risk-of-bias assessments (JBI tools) were performed independently by two reviewers. Primary outcomes were anatomical reattachment and postoperative complications; secondary outcomes included systemic and anaesthetic events. Study and participant characteristics, intervention details, and outcomes were extracted.

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Fig. 1: Study characteristics and anatomical outcomes following bilateral vitreoretinal surgery for advanced retinopathy of prematurity.
Fig. 2: Ocular and systemic complications following bilateral vitreoretinal surgery for retinopathy of prematurity.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article; however, data analysed from Yonekawa et al. are available at the following https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2016.04.033.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Parsa Khatami

  2. Faculty of Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Ali Tavakoli

  3. Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Sophie Sajjadi

  4. Department of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Sophie Sajjadi

  5. Department of Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Farhad Tafreshi, Haaris Khan & Eduardo V. Navajas

  6. Department of Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Brendan K. Tao

Authors
  1. Parsa Khatami
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  2. Ali Tavakoli
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  7. Eduardo V. Navajas
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Contributions

PK contributed to research design, data acquisition, data analysis, and manuscript preparation. AT contributed to research design, data acquisition, data analysis, and manuscript preparation. SS contributed to data acquisition and manuscript preparation. FT contributed critical review, and final approval, and manuscript preparation. HK contributed to critical review, and final approval, and manuscript preparation. BKT contributed to research design, data analysis, and manuscript preparation, contributed critical review, and final approval. EVN contributed to research design, interpretation of data, critical review, and final approval, and agreed to be accountable for the work.

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Correspondence to Eduardo V. Navajas.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Khatami, P., Tavakoli, A., Sajjadi, S. et al. Bilateral vitrectomy in retinopathy of prematurity: reported outcomes across studies. Eye (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-025-04226-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-025-04226-x

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