Foveal contour changes following surgery for idiopathic epiretinal membrane.
OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the change in foveal contour in eyes with idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM) before and four months following pars plana vitrectomy with internal limiting and epiretinal membrane peeling, and correlated foveal contour with best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) parameters.


METHODS
Retrospective chart review of consecutive patients undergoing surgery with pre- and postoperative OCT. Foveal contour grading was devised according to the thickness of the fovea relative to the surrounding macula from OCT radial line scans: Grade 0, foveal depression relative to surrounding macula; Grade 1, relative flatness; and Grade 2, fovea thicker than surrounding macula. Baseline and follow-up grades were compared for change and correlated with BCVA, central retinal thickness (CRT), central subfield thickness (CST), central subfield volume (CSV), and integrity of the ellipsoid zone (EZ).


RESULTS
Among 41 eyes of 41 patients, mean follow-up was 125 days. No eyes were Grade 0 at baseline; 7 of 41 eyes were Grade 0 at follow-up. Baseline Grade 1 eyes improved CRT (P < 0.001), CST (P < 0.001), CSV (P = 0.002), and BCVA (P = 0.022). Baseline Grade 2 eyes improved CRT (P < 0.001), CST (P < 0.001), and CSV (P < 0.001), but not BCVA (P = 0.369).


CONCLUSIONS
We developed a novel foveal contour grading method to assess retinal contour in ERM eyes before and after surgery. In eyes with ERM and no foveal depression, the majority did not regain foveal depression following surgery even though retinal thickness improved.
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.
Nathan R
NR
Mathews
Division of Biostatistics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.
Sergey
S
Tarima
Department of Ophthalmology, Retina Service, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States Department of Ophthalmology, Myongji Hospital, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea.
Do-Gyun
DG
Kim
Department of Ophthalmology, Retina Service, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.
Judy E
JE
Kim
D000368:Aged; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000601:surgery; D019773:Epiretinal Membrane / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005584:Fovea Centralis / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D014821:Vitrectomy / Q000379:methods
ellipsoid zone; epiretinal membrane; foveal contour; internal limiting membrane