Abstract
Purpose :
To detect, by means of SD-OCT, early, subclinical, defects in fellow eye (FEs) of patients with idiopathic epiretinal membrane (IERM) in the controlateral eye
Methods :
Forty-two FEs of 42 patients with IERM in the controlateral eye, mean age 64,73±12,48 years, 22 F and 20 M, were studied. The control group consisted of 30 eyes from 30 normal, age matched subjects. All subjects had ametropia <3D and underwent clinical examination including VA evaluation using ETDRS chart and slit-lamp biomicroscopy with +90D lens. The macula was analyzed with SD-OCT (Cirrus 5000, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc) using the 512×128 scan pattern in which a 6×6 mm area, centred on the fixation point, is scanned. The software (ver. 6.5.0.772) computed the total macula volume (TMV) of the 6x6 mm area and performed the segmentation of perifoveal ganglion cells layer (PGCL), calculating the mean thickness of the whole PGCL. Data collected underwent to unpaired T-test assuming unequal variance. A level of p<0.05 was accepted as statistically significant
Results :
The mean values of TMV and PGCL in the scanned area were compared between the 2 groups. The TMV in FEs was slightly reduced vs CEs, but the difference was not statistically significant (FEs = 10.11±0.37 mm3 vs. CEs = 10.20±0.28 mm3 ; p=0.27); however, in FEs a significant reduction of PGCL mean thickness was found (FEs = 78.33±5.63 μm vs. CEs = 82.13±3.95 μm; p=0.002).
Conclusions :
We found in the FEs of patients with unilateral IERM a selective cellular loss in the PGCL. This finding suggests that a cellular defect in the PGCL could be associated and, possibly, be involved in the development of the vitreoretinal modifications occurring in IERM eyes. An alternative hypothesis could be that a damage, perhaps mechanical, related to traction to the inner retina caused by anomalous connection with the posterior vitreous cortex, occurs even in the apparently unaffected FEs of patients with IERM
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.