To explore the surgical outcomes and surgery-related complications of balanced orbital decompression and endoscopic transnasal inferomedial wall decompression for Grave's ophthalmopathy (GO).

A cohort study was performed.The 56 GO patients who underwent balanced orbital decompression or endoscopic transnasal inferomedial wall decompression in the Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital from December 2016 to December 2019 were enrolled.The follow-up time was 6 months.Patients were divided into two groups according to the operation modes.Thirty-three eyes of 24 subjects were given deep lateral wall rim-sparing orbital decompression and transcaruncular medial wall decompression, and 51 eyes of 36 cases were given endoscopic transnasal inferomedial wall decompression.The demographics, surgical details, imaging data, postoperative changes of exophthalmos, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), orbital pressure and diplopia, surgery-related complications and further treatment were analyzed and compared.This study followed the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital [No.2020KY(L)-39]. All subjects signed informed consent.

The exophthalmos was (21.03±3.11)mm before operation, which was significantly higher than (17.06±2.55)mm after operation in the balanced orbital decompression group (P<0.05). The exophthalmos was (20.51±3.53)mm before operation, which was significantly higher than (16.28±2.96)mm after operation in the endoscopic transnasal inferomedial wall decompression group (P<0.05). No significant difference in the mean reduction of proptosis was found between the two groups (P>0.05). All the subjects were accompanied with increase of intraorbital pressure before operation.The intraorbital pressure returned to normal at 6 months after operation.The postoperative BCVA of subjects with dysthyroid optic neuropathy (DON) were significantly higher than preoperative values (Z=-3.524, -4.376; both at P<0.01). The postoperative improvement values of BCVA were 0.48 (0.25, 0.67) and 0.72 (0.40, 0.80) in the balanced orbital decompression group and the endoscopic transnasal inferomedial wall decompression group, respectively, with a significant difference between the two groups (Z=-2.481, P=0.016). The incidence of complications in the balanced orbital decompression group was 21.2% (7/33), which was significantly lower than 47.0% (24/51) in the endoscopic transnasal inferomedial wall decompression group (χ²=5.748, P=0.017).

The two kinds surgical methods can effectively reduce the degree of exophthalmos and orbital pressure.Endoscopic transnasal inferomedial wall decompression can provide better improvement of visual function in patients with DON, but has a higher risk of surgery-related complications in comparison with the balanced orbital decompression.

Thyroid-associated ophthalmology; Orbit; Balanced orbital decompression; Endoscopic transnasal inferomedial wall decompression