Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the preoperative morphology of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) for prediction of the postoperative visual function in advanced idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM).
Methods :
21 patients (21 eyes) with unilateral idiopathic ERM who underwent pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling were included. Superficial FAZ was measured preoperatively in both eyes using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Area, perimeter, and circularity of FAZ were achieved, and their rationes between the ERM eyes and the contralateral eyes were calculated to analyze the degree of FAZ distortion in diseased eyes. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central foveal thickness (CFT) were measured at baseline and more than 6 months after surgery. The correlations of the preoperative FAZ rationes with BCVA and CFT were assessed.
Results :
The FAZ in the eyes with ERM was significantly reduced, and the BCVA was significantly correlated with the area ratio (P = 0.004) and the perimeter ratio (P = 0.005) of the FAZ before surgery. Decimal BCVA changed from 0.326 ± 0.139 to 0.450 ± 0.202 (P = 0.058), and CFT reduced significantly (P = 0.001) after surgery. The preoperative FAZ area and perimeter rationes were significantly correlated with letter score gain (P = 0.001, P < 0.001), and the latter showed significant correlations with the postoperative BCVA (P = 0.031) and CFT reduction ratio (P = 0.008).
Conclusions :
The preoperative FAZ perimeter ratio is the best predictor of functional and morphological prognosis after surgery in advanced idiopathic ERM.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.