Abstract: Objective · To investigate the effect of different vitreous fillers on the macular blood flow of patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD), and the correlation between the macular blood flow and the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA). Methods · In this retrospective study, 74 eyes in 74 patients with RRD for first time underwent pars plana vitrectomy in Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine Dec. 2017 to Jun. 2018 were included. According to different vitreous fillers, the patients were divided into two group, i.e. pars plana vitrectomy with gas tamponade group (gas group) and pars plana vitrectomy with silicone oil tamponade group (silicone oil group). The blood flow in 3 mm×3 mm macular area was detectedoptical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). The blood flow densities of superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP) at foveal and parafoveal area, and the areas and perimeters of foveal avascular zone (FAZ) were calculated. The correlations between the macular blood flow parameters and BCVA were analyzedpartial correlation. Results · Compared with the silicone oil group, the blood flow densities of SCP and DCP in the whole 3 mm×3 mm regions in the gas group were higher at 6 months after surgery (both P0.000). The partial correlation showed that the improvement of visual acuity was negatively correlated with the change of FAZ area (r-0.216, P0.015). Conclusion · Gas is an advantageous tamponade for the patients with RRD in improvement of blood flow density in the macular area. Meanwhile, assessing the macular blood flow density of the patients with retinal detachmentusing OCTA after vitrectomy is significant to monitor the changes of structure and function of retina.

Key words: rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD), silicone oil, optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), macular capillary plexus flow density