Abstract
Purpose::
To evaluate the influence of arteriovenous sheathotomy on the retinal function in eyes with macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion.
Methods::
Fifteen patients (15 eyes) with macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion were included in this study. First order kernel multifocal ERG was recorded before and 6 months after the operation. Normal fellow eyes served as control. The most central 7 hexagons (representing the central 5°) were compared. Correlation between the multifocal ERG responses and best corrected visual acuities were also analyzed.
Results::
Preoperative amplitude of the most central 7 hexagons was 39.15 ± 10.86 nV/deg2 in the affected eye, whereas 47.72 ± 6.67 nV/deg2 in the control (p=0.015, Mann-Whitney U test). After the operation, the difference between the affected eye and the control was not significant as the amplitude of the affected eye increased up to 50.46 ± 15.63 nV/deg2, while that of control was 55.24 ± 12.69 (p value=0.418). The postoperative amplitude was significantly improved from its preoperative value (p=0.012, Wilcoxon sign-ranks test). The changes of implicit time did not show any significant difference. A correlation between reduced ETDRS scores and reduced multifocal ERG amplitude was present (r=0.805, p<0.001, Pearson correlation). There was also a positive correlation between preoperative mean amplitude and postoperative ETDRS scores (r = 0.766, p=0.001, Pearson correlation).
Conclusions::
The arteriovenous sheathotomy improved first order multifocal ERG amplitudes in the central macula. Preoperative central multifocal amplitude may have prognostic value for sheathotomy in eyes with branch retinal vein occlusion.
Keywords: electroretinography: clinical • vascular occlusion/vascular occlusive disease • macula/fovea