Internal Limiting Membrane Peeling Using Indocyanine Green in Vitrectomy for Idiopathic Macular Hole

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling using indocyanine green (ICG) on the surgical results of the vitrectomy for idiopathic macular holes. METHODS: We analyzed the anatomical and functional results of the macular hole surgeries without internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling (group I; 32 eyes) and with ILM peeling using ICG (group II; 22 eyes). RESULTS: In group I and group II, mean age was 62 years and 64 years, and follow-up period was 17 months and 8 months, respectively. Anatomical success (P=0.528); 28 eyes (87.5%) vs. 20 eyes (90.9%), mean best visual acuity (P=0.004); 0.41 vs. 0.26, final visual acuity (P=0.006); 0.32 vs. 0.16, improvemant of best visual acuity (P=0.051); 2.88 lines vs. 1.59 lines, improvement of final visual acuity (P=0.048); 1.97 lines vs. 0.82 lines, and functional success rate (P=0.063); 24 eyes (75.0%) vs. 12 eyes (54.5%) were shown. Visual acuities better than 0.4 were found in 12 eyes (37.5%) of group I and in 5 eyes (22.7%) of group II (P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: ILM peeling using ICG might produce a negative effect on the functional results, thereby requiring care with handling ICG.