Abstract： Objective To learn the distribution pattern and worldwide research tendency of vitrectomy literatures.Methods Articles were searched from American Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) online database of web of science (WOS) database as a data source,to analyze the age distribution,national and regional,funding agency and citation of the vitrectomy literatures included during the year of 1971 - 2011.The analysis software BibExcel and SPSS 19.0 were used to cluster high-frequency of them.Results Totally 8540 literatures were included, the numbers of them were gradually increased since 1971,significantly after 1991.The literatures were mainly in English,the literatures of our country capacity ranked 6th; funded institutions in all article,the National Natural Science Foundation of China ranked No.5.Citation gradually increased since 1991,increased significantly after 2004.There were 50 highfrequency subjects,and hot topics were clustered into 6 categories which including vitrectomy for diseases of macula lutea,new techniques and complication of vitrectomy,medical treatment and surgical therapy of diabetic retinopathy,vitrectomy for endophthalmitis caused by cataract surgery,intraocular injection and eye injury.Conclusions There is a growing trend on the research of vitrectomy. The hot topics include vitrectomy for diseases of macula lutea,new techniques and complication of vitrectomy.It may provide references for the scholars in scientific research and clinical studies.