Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate the morphologic features and its relationship with visual outcome in patients with good preoperative visual acuity after epiretinal membrane (ERM) surgery.
Methods:
55 eyes of 55 patients with idiopathic ERM and preoperative decimal best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) ≥ 0.5 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients underwent 23-gauge vitrectomy for ERM removal. The preoperative morphologic features were determined by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). The correlation between the morphologic features and postoperative visual outcome was evaluated.
Results:
Of 55 eyes, 38 eyes (69%) had better postoperative BCVA and 9 eyes (18%) had worse postoperative BCVA than preoperative BCVA. 7 eyes (13%) maintained preoperative BCVA. Three types of ERM were determined; flat (64%), convex (12%), and foveal ridge type (24%). Improved and stable visual outcome was found in flat type and foveal ridge type. Poor visual outcome was found in convex type because of thickened ganglion cell complex and fibrillary change. In case of poor postoperative BCVA in flat type, hyperreflective foveal lesions were noticed before and after surgery.
Conclusions:
Preoperative BCVA was reported to be correlated with postoperative BCVA. In spite of good preoperative BCVA with ERM, convex type or flat type with foveal hyperreflective lesions may result in poor visual outcome. Therefore, morphologic pattern should be considered to predict visual outcome, especially in patients with good preoperative BCVA.