ObjectiveTo observe the outcomes of 23G pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) and air tamponade for non-inferior rhegmatognous retinal detachment (RRD).MethodsA prospective case series study. From August 2017 to April 2018, 39 consecutive RRD patients (39 eyes) in Department of Ophthalmology of Subei People’s Hospital Affiliated to Yangzhou University were enrolled in this study. There were 20 males (20 eyes) and 19 females (19 eyes), 23 right eyes and 16 left eyes, with the mean age of 55±11 years. There were 30 eyes with lens and 9 eyes without lens or IOL. There were 21, 14 and 4 eyes with 1, 2 and equal or greater than 3 retinal tear respectively. All patients underwent 23G PPV which performed preretinal proliferative membranes and vitreous cortex removal, photocoagulation around the breaks with 3-5 rows, and filtered air tamponade. The follow-up was more than 2 months. The retinal reattachment, visual acuity and complications were observed. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between BCVA and disease course. Chi-square test was performed for comparison among retinal reattachment rate and different clinical factors before operation.ResultsAt 2 months after the PPV, 35 eyes’ retina reattached, the rate of reattachment was 89.8%. In 2-3 weeks, 4 eyes were re-detached, all of them performed silicone oil tamponade. One eye was secondary to pre-macular membrane. The logMAR BCVA before and after PPV were 1.15±0.78 and 0.41±0.31, respectively (t=6.589, P=0.0001). Correlation analysis results showed that BCVA after surgery was positively correlated with BCVA before surgery (r=0.544, P=0.001). Twelve of 30 eyes with crystalline lens suffered cataract. The rate of reattachment vary in the number of the breaks (χ2=9.181, P=0.010).ConclusionPPV with air tamponade may be an optimal treatment of non-inferior RRD with better success rate and security.