Purpose:
To investigate postoperative changes and prognostic factors of visual impairment after vitrectomy for unilateral epiretinal membrane.
Methods:
A prospective observational study on 45 eyes from 45 patients with unilateral idiopathic epiretinal membrane who underwent vitrectomy. Visual parameters (best-corrected visual acuity, metamorphopsia using M-CHARTS, and aniseikonia using the New Aniseikonia Test) and spectral domain optical coherence tomography parameters (macular retinal layer thickness and microstructure of the outer retina) were measured preoperatively and 6 and 12 months postoperatively. Statistical analyses included linear mixed-effects models for the longitudinal changes and prognostic factors of visual parameters.
Results:
Best-corrected visual acuity and horizontal metamorphopsia improved significantly from 6 months after surgery (P < 0.001), whereas aniseikonia decreased significantly only at 12 months (P = 0.015). Vertical metamorphopsia remained unchanged. Preoperative inner nuclear layer thickness was significantly correlated with preoperative metamorphopsia. Besides baseline values, best-corrected visual acuity had no significant prognostic factors, but preoperative ellipsoid zone disruption had a negative direction of association with postoperative metamorphopsia (coefficients: −0.37 and −0.62, P = 0.015 and 0.006 for horizontal and vertical metamorphopsia, respectively), and preoperative horizontal metamorphopsia had a positive direction of association with postoperative aniseikonia (coefficient: 1.77, P = 0.002).
Conclusion:
After vitrectomy, postoperative changes and prognostic factors for unilateral epiretinal membrane differed for best-corrected visual acuity, metamorphopsia, and aniseikonia.
