title: Surgical treatment of lamellar macular hole secondary to epiretinal membrane.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To examine the surgical results of lamellar macular hole (LMH) secondary to epiretinal membrane (ERM).
  
  
  METHODS
  A 3-year retrospective review was performed of patients with LMH secondary to ERM that underwent ERM and internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling. The main outcome measures included best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and postoperative macular structure. The results were compared with cases of idiopathic ERM with similar baseline demographic characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty eyes in 30 patients were collected. The mean BCVA improvement was 3.4 Snellen lines after a mean follow-up period of 16.9 months. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed improved macular contour in 27 cases. Patients with intravitreal gas tamponade exhibited a higher percentage of restoration of macular contour than those without (P = 0.016). Final BCVA was correlated with an intact photoreceptor inner segment-outer segment (IS-OS) junction (P = 0.03). The degree of visual improvement is less than that observed in idiopathic ERM patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In LMH secondary to ERM with significant visual decrease, ERM and ILM peeling may improve BCVA. Postoperative gas tamponade is associated with better restoration of macular configuration. Final BCVA is related to an intact photoreceptor IS-OS junction rather than to the normalization of the macular contour.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, National Taiwan University Hospital Hsin-Chu Branch, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jen-Pin
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: San-Ni
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chih-Chun
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.forename: Chao-Wen
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Chun-Ju
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Jehn-Yu
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Chung-May
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Muh-Shy
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chang-Hao
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D058450:Endotamponade; D019773:Epiretinal Membrane / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005466:Fluorocarbons / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012167:Retinal Perforations / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D014821:Vitrectomy
chemical_list: D005466:Fluorocarbons; C042852:perflutren