In reply
We appreciate the letters of Drs Hanscom and LeClaire about the difference between the results of vitreous tap performed with needle aspiration alone and the results of tap performed with a vitrectomy cutter in the EVS.1 Of the 201 patients on whom we have data, 70 underwent tap with needle aspiration, and 127 with vitrectomy biopsy. There were 4 patients in whom tap was initiated with a needle and modified to the biopsy method.The EVS did not have a study goal of determining whether tap with aspiration was better than tap with vitreous biopsy, and we did not randomize patients to receive their tap with aspiration vs tap with biopsy. It is possible that physicians who chose to do the tap with aspiration may have done so on a selected group of eyes, such as those that they deemed to have had more minimal disease. Because