Even following a successful vitrectomy surgery, patients with macula-off diabetic tractional retinal detachment frequently retain residual subfoveal fluid (RSF), according to a publication in the journal Eye. The investigators saw persistent RSF on optical coherence tomography (OCT) of all 23 patients reviewed one and two months after the procedure. The patients underwent 23-gauge pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) between July 2012 and December 2015. But the findings diminishes further out from the procedure: 91.7% had RSF three months after the surgery, 70.8% six months after and 25% at nine months. A full year after PPV, OCT showed RSF in 4.2% of patients.

The research also shows that internal drainage of subretinal fluid during primary surgery was performed in 13 (54.2%) eyes and that non-drainage is a significant risk factor predictive of long-standing RSF.