PERSISTENT HYPERPLASTIC PRIMARY VITREOUS - CLINICAL-FEATURES AND TREATMENT

Purpose Persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous (PHPV) is a rare deve lopmental malformation of the eye. This anomaly is usually unilateral and unassociated with other disease. PHPV may have clinical variations : an anterior and/or a posterior one. Diagnosis and treatment are expo sed in our paper. Methods We study 38 eyes in 34 patients. All patient s had an anterior form of PHPV. Nine of them associated a posterior fo rm. Eighteen eyes underwent surgery, the mean postoperative follow-up is 4.7 years. Treatment is discussed, depending on the initial form of PHPV. We report the evolution of the surgical eyes and the untreated eyes. Results Slit lamp examination and echographic findings (A-scan a nd B-scan) support the diagnosis. In some cases computed tomography or RMN can be useful. If the cataract is mild in the anterior form of PH PV, treatment of amblyopia and frequent clinical examination can be su fficient. If the cataract is dr,nse, a lensectomy must to be performed The surgical technique san be difficult. For the eyes with posterior PHPV, the surgical treatment is to be avoided, because of high risk of retinal detachment. Conclusion PHPV may have clinical variations, mos tly with cataract as major sign. In purely anterior presentation, in a bsence of marked microphthalmos, lensectomy can be useful.