title: Visual outcome and prognostic factors after surgery for a secondary epiretinal membrane associated with branch retinal vein occlusion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the visual outcome and prognostic factors after surgery for a secondary epiretinal membrane (ERM) due to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO).
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical records of 33 patients (33 eyes) were retrospectively reviewed. All patients underwent vitrectomy and completed at least one year of follow-up. Patients characteristics, including baseline best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA; logMAR, logarithm of the minimum angle resolution), fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography findings were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty eyes (60.6%) were non-ischemic and nine eyes (27.3%) had ischemic maculopathy. The mean BCVA was 0.82 ±0.56 logMAR (20/132 Snellen equivalent) at baseline and 0.43 ±0.37 logMAR (20/53 Snellen equivalent) at 1 year (p = 0.001). At 1 year three eyes (9.1%) had visual loss with 0.3 logMAR or more deterioration than baseline whereas 16 eyes (48.5%) gained vision. The mean central macular thickness (CMT) was 407.3 ±138.8 μm at baseline and 274.71 ±40.5 μm at 1 year after surgery (p = 0.001). Photoreceptor integrity was intact in 20 eyes (60.6%). Photoreceptor integrity (B = 0.248, p = 0.001) at baseline was significantly correlated with visual outcome after surgery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surgery for a secondary ERM associated with BRVO led to a relatively favorable visual outcome. The integrity of photoreceptors at baseline seems to be useful in predicting visual outcome in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hae Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Hyoung Jun
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Sung Chul
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002387:Cataract Extraction; D004396:Coloring Agents; D019773:Epiretinal Membrane / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007208:Indocyanine Green; D019654:Lens Implantation, Intraocular; D008297:Male; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011379:Prognosis; D012170:Retinal Vein Occlusion / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*; D014821:Vitrectomy
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D007208:Indocyanine Green