Surgical treatment of war lesions to the posterior segment of the eye

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the outcome of surgical trea tment of war lesions to the posterior eye segment. Methods: During a 1-year period, 96 patients with severe eye lesions, 54 of them with intraocular f oreign bodies (56.2%), were operated on at the Institute for Posterior Eye Segment Diseases and Trauma, Zagreb Clinical Hospital. Surgical procedures performed included high-quality primary microsurgery of the wound, extracti on of intraocular foreign bodies, treatment of double perforating wounds by silicone oil tamponade and gas, and emergency vitrectomy when necessary. R esults: A varying degree of vision function improvement was achieved in 67 patients (69.7%), Most of the foreign bodies removed were metal and nonmagn etic. Only six foreign bodies were made of glass, and two 2 were of plastic material. In 29 patients (30.3%), the vision function remained unchanged o r deteriorated after vitrectomy, Conclusion: Although satisfactory results were achieved, definitive evaluation of the procedures will be possible onl y after long-term follow-up.