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A light and electron microscopical study of subretinal fluid removed at surgery for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment showed a heterogeneity of cell types originating from the neural retina, pigment epithelium, and wandering cells of the blood. Subcellular organelles sedimenting in the centrifuged pellets could be identified as to cell of origin, health of the parent cell, and time since cell rupture. Acellular specimens were typical of angiomatous detachments or long-standing rhegmatogenous detachments. Because various mechanisms of cellular pathophysiology contribute to the destructive and reparative processes during retina detachment, the cytologic analysis of subretinal fluid becomes a useful tool in understanding the biological processes that affect visual recovery or impairment after successful retinal detachment surgery.

Twenty-five patients with severe, progressive, chronic uveitis who were poorly responsive or unresponsive to corticosteroid therapy received low-dose prednisone and cytotoxic immunosuppressive therapy. Azathioprine (2.0 to 2.5 mg/kg) or chlorambucil (6 to 8 mg) was combined with prednisone (10 to 15 mg) daily in a long-term therapeutic program. All 25 patients exhibited a therapeutic response. In 18 of 25 patients, complete quiescence of the inflammatory process was observed. The remaining seven patients showed a substantial decrease of uveitis with persistence of some inflammatory changes. Adverse side effects that resulted from this therapy were infrequent.