Analysis of Prognostic Factors for Visual Recovery after Vitrectomy in Patients with Epiretinal Membranes

초록

Purpose: To analyze the effect of the axial length on the visual outcome after epiretinal membrane surgery, and to identify factors that could predict better visual acuity improvement after epiretinal membrane surgery. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on patients who underwent vitrectomy under the diagnosis of idiopathic epiretinal membrane from January 2009 to August 2021, and were followed up for more than 1 year. Demographics, ocular findings and optical coherence tomographic findings were analyzed. Patients with macular disease that could affect visual acuity, a history of glaucoma, and a history of previous vitreo-retinal surgery were excluded. Results: A total of 58 patients were included in the study, and 74.1% of whom were female. The average age was 65.0 ± 8.8 years, and the patients were followed up for an average of 31.5 ± 23.4 months. The mean axial length of the patients was 23.5 ± 1.2 mm. There was no change in visual acuity before and after vitrectomy (p=0.597), and the central macular thickness decreased from 453.2 ± 162.3 μm to 358.9 ± 58.8 μm (p<0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that poorer preoperative visual acuity and shorter axial length were associated with poor visual outcome (p<0.001 and 0.049, respectively). Conclusions: The poorer preoperative visual acuity and shorter axial length of epiretinal membrane patients had poor visual outcome. It can be helpful in deciding whether to perform epiretinal membrane surgery in patients with severe visual decline or in patients with a short axial length.