Objective: Candidates for diabetic vitrectomy often have concurrent renal dysfunction and have undergone hemodialysis. The influence of hemodialysis on the surgical outcome of vitrectomy was investigated.

Methods: Vitrectomy was performed on 76 eyes with proliferative diabetic retinopathy in 66 patients with end-stage renal failure who had undergone hemodialysis. Follow-up was longer than 1 year.

Results: No uncontrollable hemorrhage occurred either during or immediately after the surgery. Final visual acuity after surgery was the same as preoperative visual acuity in 31.5% of the eyes; improvement was seen in 60.5% of the eyes. A final visual acuity of 0.2 or better was observed in 57.6% of the eyes. Major postoperative complications included recurrent vitreous hemorrhage, rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, fibrin clot formation, neovascular glaucoma, flat anterior chamber, and a transient rise in intraocular pressure.

Conclusions: Renal failure and hemodialysis do not appear to have a deteriorative influence on the outcome of vitrectomy for proliferative diabetic retinopathy. A flat anterior chamber seems to be a rare and perhaps unique postoperative complication of gas-filled eyes in patients who have undergone hemodialysis.