Purpose
To examine if metamorphopsia in eyes with epiretinal membrane(ERM) correlates with tangenital retinal displacement after the surgery.
Methods
The patients undergoing ERM surgery were retrospectively studied. Metamorphosia was quantitatively evaluated using vertical (MV) and horizontal score (MH) of M-CHARTS (Handaya, Japan). The distances between 2 intersections of retinal vessels were identified in near infrared images(Spectralis, Heidelberg Engineering, Germany)so that the line between 2 points passed the center of macula vertically or horizontally (Figure). The postoperative changes of vertical and horizontal distances were calculated at 1week, 1month and 3 months postoperatively, and their correlations with metamorphopsia were studied.
Results
Fiffty eyes of 50 patients(25 female) with the age of 69.5±7.8 years were studied. MV improved significantly at 1 month (Wilcoxon signed-ranks test, P=0.046) and MH improved signifcantly at 1 week (P=0.0003) and 1 month (P=0.0001) postoperatively. Preoperative MV correlated with the change of vertical displacement (%) at 1 week (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient: r=0.36, P=0.014) and horizonal displacement at 1 month (r=0.31, P=0.034.) Preoperative MH correlated with the change of vertical retinal displacement at 1 week. (r=0.29,P=0.049.)
Conclusions
Metamorphopsia in ERM appears to correlate with the distance of tangenital retinal displacement after epiretinal membrane surgery.