Correlation Between Preoperative OCT Pattern and Visual Improvement in Macular Epiretinal Membrane

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To analyze the correlation between preoperative characteristics of optical coherence tomography (OCT) image and visual improvement in macular epiretinal membrane (ERM) and to determine whether preoperative difference upon OCT pattern is a prognostic indicator of high postoperative visual acuity. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 99 patients (100 eyes) with ERM, who were treated by vitrectomy and followed for more than four months. We classified the OCT images of preoperative ERM into three different types flat macula, convex macula, and concave macula. Then we compared the preoperative visual improvement among the three types. RESULTS: The causes of ERM were idiopathic in 59 eyes, diabetic retinopathy in 16 eyes, uveitis in 9 eyes, and retinal vein occlusion in 6 eyes. The types of OCT were flat macula in 30 eyes, convex macula in 62 eyes, and concave macula in 8 eyes. The grades of visual improvement of LogMAR (logarism of minimum angle of resolution) were 0.49, 0.48, and 0.46, respectively. All three groups showed a significant level of visual improvement. In the secondary ERM group, preoperative and postoperative Log MAR of convex macula revealed lower preoperative and postoperative visual acuity than that of the flat and concave macula (P<0.05). There was a higher degree of visual improvement in patients with pseudophakia, but preoperative central macular thickness (CMT) and the presence of internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling were not corrected with visual improvement. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that vitrectomy for epiretinal membrane resulted in favorable visual improvement. There is no correction between preoperative morphologic difference upon OCT and the degree of visual improvement in ERM.