ObjectiveTo explore the predictive effect of intraocular fluid testing in the assessment of retinal detachment (RD) occurring in acute retinal necrosis syndrome (ARN). MethodsA retrospective study. From January 2019 to October 2023, 40 patients with 40 eyes diagnosed as ARN in Nanjing Medical University Eye Hospital were collected for this study. According to whether RD occurred during the follow-up period, the patients were divided into RD group (group A) and no RD group (group B), with 18 patients 18 eyes and 22 patients 22 eyes, respectively. All patients were given intravitreal 20 mg/ml ganciclovir 0.1 ml (ganciclovir 2 mg), 2 to 3 times per week after diagnosis. The concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (BFGF), vascular cell adhesion factor (VCAM), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and IL-10 in the preaqueous solution were measured before the first injection of ganciclovir. The loads of herpes simplex virus (HSV) and varicella-herpes zoster virus (VZV) were detected by fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) calculated and analyzed the area under ROC curve (AUC) of inflammatory cytokines in aqueous humor and HSV-DNA and VZV-DNA loads in predicting RD in ARN patients to evaluate their predictive value. ResultsIn 18 eyes in group A and 22 eyes in group B, VZV and HSV was infected in 16 and 2 eyes and 21 and 1 eyes, respectively. The VZV-DNA and HSV-DNA load were compared between the two groups, the difference was statistically significant (Z=－3.762, P＜0.001); compared with group B, the concentrations of VEGF in humor (Z=－3.996), BFGF (Z=－2.430), IL-6 (Z=－3.303), IL-8 (Z=－3.480), and IL-10 (Z=－3.409) increased significantly in group A, the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05); there was no statistically significant difference in VCAM between the two groups (Z=－0.054, P=0.957). The ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC of VEGF, nucleic acid copies, IL-10, IL-8, IL-6, and bFGF for predicting RD in ARN was 0.871, 0.848, 0.828, 0.823, 0.806, 0.737, respectively. The AUC of combination of VEGF, IL-10, IL-8, IL-6, and BFGF predicted the RD in ARN was 0.924. The optimal cut-off value of nucleic acid copies was 0.40×106, and IL-10, IL-8 and IL-6 were 50.65, 1 695.50 and 6 634.0 pg/ml, respectively. ConclusionAqueous humor viral load as well as cytokines alone or in combination have a reference value for predicting RD secondary to ARN.