Purpose:To compare the efficiency of the advanced ultravit beveled vitrector probe (10,000 cuts per minute) to the current standard ultravit highspeed (7500 cuts per minute) vitrector probe.Methods:A prospective, randomized controlled trial was conducted on patients undergoing routine vitrectomy surgery for epiretinal membrane, full-thickness macular hole, and vitreous opacities. Patients were randomly assigned to undergo PPV with the ultravit highspeed probe (Probe 1) or the advanced ultravit beveled probe (Probe 2). The main outcome measure was time to completion of core vitrectomy and vitreous base shave.Results:Forty patients were enrolled in this study, 20 in each cohort. The average time to completion of core vitrectomy was 10.4 +/- 1.8 min in the Probe 1 cohort compared to 9.7 +/- 2 min in the Probe 2 cohort (P = 0.21). The average time to completion of vitreous base shave was 9.6 +/- 2.7 min in the Probe 1 cohort compared to 9.4 +/- 1.8 min in the Probe 2 cohort (P = 0.39).Conclusion:In the current study, the advanced ultravit beveled probe was noninferior to the ultravit highspeed vitrectomy probe when looking at the time to completion of core vitrectomy and vitreous base shave. The increased cut rate did not affect the efficiency of vitreous removal.

Background: To determine the normal variance of the mean macular ganglion cell layer (GCL) volume among subjects without significant ocular pathology using SPECTRALIS optical coherence tomography (OCT). Methods: Fifty subjects underwent a baseline scan using SPECTRALIS OCT followed by 2 more studies with (reg-ON) and without (reg-OFF) eye registration all taken at the same session. The mean GCL volume was measured using built-in SPECTRALIS software. Eyes with macular pathology were excluded. The reproducibility of the measurements of the GCL volume was evaluated with Bland–Altman plots and limits of agreement, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and the coefficient of repeatability (CR). Results: A total of 98 eyes met criteria for the analysis. The mean GCL volume difference was 0.0002 ± 0.029 and −0.0005 ± 0.035 mm3 for scans 1 versus 2 (baseline vs reg-ON) and 3 (baseline vs reg-OFF), respectively. The ICCs were 0.985 and 0.977 for the baseline vs reg-ON and reg-OFF groups. The CR for baseline vs reg-ON was 0.056 while CR for baseline vs reg-OFF was 0.069. Ninety percent of eyes fell within 0.04 mm3 of test–retest reliability. Conclusions: Our model found a predictable threshold of 0.07 mm3 or less for SPECTRALIS OCT mean GCL volume variance, which did not significantly change with eye registration in eyes without macular pathology. Clinicians may also consider a threshold of 0.04 mm3 when determining stable vs progressive changes in mean GCL volume using this device.