High intraocular pressure in four vitrectomized eyes with intravitreal C3F8 without high altitude travel.

IMPORTANCE: It is well known that altitude ascent with intravitreal gas can cause expansion of gas and intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation. According to Boyle's law, the gas bubble will not expand unless a higher altitude than the gas insertion site has been reached. We report four cases in which intravitreal gas was injected at an altitude of 790 m (Jerusalem). All four cases developed high IOP even though they did not reach a higher altitude in their post-operative period.

OBSERVATIONS: A report of four patients following vitrectomy with 12% mixture of perfluoropropane and air are presented. All four patients arrived with ocular pain following the ascent by car of 765-1100 m to Jerusalem where the vitrectomy and gas insertion was conducted. Upon examination, all four patients had high IOP (30-55 mm Hg). IOP was well controlled with IOP-lowering medications. None of the patients suffered from long-term complications.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Caution should be taken with altitude changes in patients with intravitreal gas even if there was no ascent from the altitude in which the vitrectomy was performed.