Long-term functional outcomes and vision-related quality of life after vitrectomy for epiretinal membrane: a prospective cohort study

Raoul Kanav Khanna,Sophie Arsene,Marie-Thérèse Marotte,Jeremy Pasco,Tiphanie Pichard,Marta Dorvault,Pierre-Jean Pisella,Ann-Rose Cook

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-06482-3

Raoul Kanav Khanna, Sophie Arsene + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06482-3

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Abstract

To investigate the long-term effect of unilateral idiopathic epiretinal membrane (uiERM) removal on monocular and binocular visual function, and on vision-related quality of life (VR-QoL). Prospective, single-center study. The following data were collected before and after surgery: distance monocular and binocular best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), horizontal and vertical metamorphopsia, horizontal and vertical aniseikonia, stereoacuity and National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25 item (NEI VFQ-25). Forty-two patients (mean age: 72.7 ± 7.4 years; 24 men) were included. At 6 months postoperatively, distance monocular BCVA (p < 0.001), horizontal metamorphopsia (p = 0.001) and the composite score of NEI VFQ-25 (p < 0.001) significantly improved, in comparison to baseline. At 2 years postoperatively, distance monocular (p < 0.001) and binocular (p = 0.01) BCVA, horizontal (p < 0.001) and vertical (p = 0.02) metamorphopsia, vertical aniseikonia (p = 0.01), stereoacuity (p < 0.001) and 3 subscales scores of the NEI VFQ-25 (p < 0.05) (“general vision”, “mental health”, “driving”) significantly improved in comparison to baseline. Removal of uiERM improves VR-QoL and achieves good visual outcomes on both monocular and binocular visual parameters over long-term. Visual symptoms induced by macular contraction have different improvement kinetics after surgery. Stereopsis, the highest level of binocular vision, can be improved in some cases.

Highlights

To investigate the long-term effect of unilateral idiopathic epiretinal membrane removal on monocular and binocular visual function, and on vision-related quality of life (VR-QoL)
At 2 postoperative years, 5 (12%) patients presented an idiopathic Epiretinal membrane (ERM) in the contralateral eye, diagnosed by Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT), without anatomical changes in macular morphology or retinal thicknesses
No patients presented a recurrence of ERM during follow-up on standard deviation (SD)-OCT

Summary

Introduction

To investigate the long-term effect of unilateral idiopathic epiretinal membrane (uiERM) removal on monocular and binocular visual function, and on vision-related quality of life (VR-QoL). At 2 years postoperatively, distance monocular (p < 0.001) and binocular (p = 0.01) BCVA, horizontal (p < 0.001) and vertical (p = 0.02) metamorphopsia, vertical aniseikonia (p = 0.01), stereoacuity (p < 0.001) and 3 subscales scores of the NEI VFQ-25 (p < 0.05) (“general vision”, “mental health”, “driving”) significantly improved in comparison to baseline. ERM may cause monocular functional symptoms in the affected eye (decrease in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), positive central scotoma, metamorphopsia,) and lead to impaired binocular vision (aniseikonia, decreased stereoacuity)[1]. The main purpose of our study was to evaluate the outcomes after unilateral idiopathic ERM (uiERM) surgery on monocular and binocular visual function as well as on VR-QoL with a 2 years follow-up

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