Abstract:

 Objective To investigate the associated factors of postoperative visual acuity in idiopathic epiretinal membrane (iERM). Design Retrospective cases series. Participants 69 patients (69 eyes) with iERM underwent vitrectomy from January 2015 to June 2017 in Beijing Aier-Intech Eye Hospital. Methods By reviewing medical record system, the patients' age, medical history, preoperative (within 1 week before operation) and postoperative (1 month, 3 months after operation) best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) (LogMar) and images of optical coherence tomography (OCT) were retrospectively collected. The retinal thicknesses within the 6 mm diameter range of macular area were measured, and the integrity of segment ellipsoid band (ISEB) was judged on OCT images. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors of postoperative visual acuity. Main Outcome Measures age, gender, history of diabetes and hypertension, preoperative and postoperative BCVA, macular retinal thickness and ISEB integrity on OCT. Results The mean BCVA of 69 patients on preoperative and 1 month after surgery were 0.47±0.34, 0.41±0.25, respectively (t=1.77, P=0.081). The mean of BCVA on 3th month after surgery was 0.37±0.24, which was significantly higher than BCVA before surgery (t=2.46, P=0.017). The mean retinal thickness in the central macular area before surgery, one month after surgery, three months after surgery were 454.07±73.39, 406.65±63.86, 384.46±59.86 μm, respectively. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that BCVA of postoperative 3 months was mainly correlated with preoperative BCVA (β=2.55, P=0.015). Conclusion Postoperative visual acuity in patients with iERM is mainly related to preoperative visual acuity. Early and reasonable surgical intervention may be an effective way to maintain good visual acuity in patients with iERM. (Ophthalmol CHN, 2019, 28: 269-272)

Key words: idiopathic epirietinal membrane, vitrectomy, visual acuity