A comparative study of epiretinal membranes associated with Eales' disease: a clinicopathologic evaluation.
OBJECTIVE
To study the histopathologic features and clinical correlation of epiretinal membranes (ERM) obtained from patients of Eales' disease and compare with other vasoproliferative disorders.


METHODS
Retrospective analysis of epiretinal membranes submitted for histological evaluation between January 1995 and June 2001, from the patients of diabetic retinopathy and vascular occlusions (Group 1; vaso-occlusive disorders) and of Eales' disease (Group 2; vasoinflammatory disorders). Demographics, pre and postoperative visual acuity, and anatomic and histologic characteristics of membranes were studied. Histopathologic features and clinical outcomes were correlated between the groups. The results were analysed statistically by Student's t-test, Fisher's exact test and Kruskal-Wallis test.


RESULTS
This study consisted of 42 patients, 24 in Group 1 and 18 in Group 2. Patients in Group 2 (33.0+/-9.2 years) were significantly younger than the patients in Group 1 (49.9+/-7.6 years) (P< or =0.0001). Final visual acuity of >20/400 was attained in 79.2% (19/24) patients in Group 1 and 83.3% (15/18) in Group 2 (P=1.0). Inflammatory membranes were significantly associated with presumed Eales' disease (94.4 vs 0%) (P< or =0.0001) and fibrovascular membranes with Group 1 (70.8% vs 33.3%) (P=0.028). Mast cells and eosinophils were observed as special features in epiretinal membranes of patients with Eales' disease.


CONCLUSIONS
Histological features of ERM in Eales' disease are comparable to other vasoproliferative disorders except for features of inflammation. Presence of mast cells and eosinophils in epiretinal membranes of Eales' disease needs further investigation.
Majji
A B
AB
Smt Kanuri Santhamma Retina-Vitreous Centre, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India. ajit@lvpei.org
Vemuganti
G K
GK
Shah
V A
VA
Singh
S
S
Das
T
T
Jalali
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000473:pathology; D004804:Eosinophils / Q000473:pathology; D019773:Epiretinal Membrane / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D012170:Retinal Vein Occlusion / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014657:Vasculitis / Q000473:pathology*; D014792:Visual Acuity