Functional and anatomic changes between early postoperative recovery and long-term follow-up after combined epiretinal and internal limiting membrane peeling

Objective: To evaluate short- and long-term changes in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and retinal layer thicknesses after combined epiretinal membrane (ERM) and internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling for macular holes and symptomatic ERMs.

Design: Retrospective observational case series.

Participants: Patients with ERMs or with macular holes and ERMs treated with combined ERM and ILM peeling.

Methods: Study eyes (n = 36) and healthy fellow eyes (n = 17) were evaluated using the automated segmentation of retinal layers performed by SPECTRALIS software that automatically calculated the average central retinal thickness and the average thickness in each of the individual retinal layers. The analysis was performed at 6-18 months after surgery and after 60 months.

Main outcome measures: Changes in BCVA and retinal layer thicknesses determined by automated segmentation at the first and last follow-up visits.

Results: BCVA improved from a baseline 0.48 ± 0.25 logMAR (20/60 Snellen) to 0.18 ± 0.18 logMAR (20/30 Snellen) at the short-term postoperative examination (p < 0.0001). Between first and last follow-up visit, 5 eyes (14%) were classified as better, 28 (78%) as stable, and 3 (8%) as worse. BCVA of the control fellow eyes remained stable during the follow-up. The thicknesses of retinal layers decreased significantly (p < 0.009). At the last follow-up, the ganglion cell layer was thinner and the inner nuclear layer was thicker in the operated eyes compared with the healthy fellow eyes.

Conclusion: Combined ERM and ILM peeling may improve BCVA in some patients. However, over a long follow-up period, it can be associated with progressive ganglion cell layer thinning that could affect BCVA stability.