Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate the changes of chorioretinal blood flow using laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG) before and after vitrectomy in patients with epiretinal membrane (ERM).
Methods:
A retrospective analysis was performed for consecutive patients with ERM at the Department of Ophthalmology of the Nagasaki University from June 2011 through May 2012. Forty-four eyes of patients (21 men and 23 women, mean age 68.1±8.2) were examined for the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), the retinal blood flow at the optic disc and the chorioretinal blood flow at the macula using LSFG before, approximately 1 week, 1 month and 3 months after surgery. The relative blood velocity was measured as the mean blur rate (MBR).
Results:
Results: The mean BCVA (logMAR±SD) significantly improved from baseline (0.44±0.28) to 1 month (0.28±0.19) and 3 months (0.20±0.20) after surgery (P<0.01). The average MBR of the blood flow in the main retinal vessels at the disc area was 46.5±14.4 and the average MBR of chorioretinal blood flow at the macula was 8.8±2.7 before surgery. Compared to before surgery (before; 100%), MBR at both of the disc (105.2%±29.6%, 96.6±23.1%, 105.2±26.5%) and macula (96.5%±17.1%, 101.1±13.9%, 96.4±22.5%) exhibited no statistically significant difference at 1 week, 1month and 3 months respectively ( repeated measures ANOVA ).
Conclusions:
Vitrectomy for ERM indicated no significant difference in the retinal blood flow at the disc area and the chorioretinal blood flow at the macula. Blood flow of the retina and choroid were not affected by vitrectomy in patients with ERM.
Keywords: 762 vitreoretinal surgery •
585 macula/fovea •
550 imaging/image analysis: clinical