Abstract
Purpose: To determine the long-term reproducibility of axial length measurements and mean postoperative prediction errors after combined phacovitrectomy in patients with idiopathic epiretinal membranes. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Methods: The study included 43 patients who underwent combined phacovitrectomy and 30 patients who underwent only phacoemulsification. To determine the effect of vitrectomy, we compared patients treated with phacoemulsification only versus those treated with combined phacovitrectomy. Axial lengths were measured three times with a one-year interval, and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), coefficient of variation (CV), and test–retest standard deviation (TRTSD) were assessed. Results: There was no significant change in axial length, and axial length measurements showed high reproducibility in all groups. ICC, CV, and TRTSD values were 0.997, 0.24%, and 0.056, respectively, for the vitrectomized eyes. The mean postoperative prediction error was −0.37 diopters(D) in vitrectomized eyes (p < 0.001), while it was +0.11 D in patients with phacoemulsification (p = 0.531). The myopic shift was more obvious in eyes with a shallower anterior chamber (p = 0.008) and a thicker lens (p = 0.025). Conclusions: Axial length measurements showed excellent long-term reproducibility at 2 years after combined phacovitrectomy. Myopic shifts were observed after combined phacovitrectomy, which was probably due to changes in the effective lens position after combined phacovitrectomy, rather than to changes in the axial length.
Highlights
The epiretinal membrane (ERM), first described by Iwanoff in 1865, has been known by many names, including primary retinal folds, macular pucker, preretinal macular fibrosis, surface wrinkling retinopathy, preretinal macular fibrosis, internal retinal fibrosis, and cellophane maculopathy [1]
Between January 2011 and June 2016, 345 patients were diagnosed with ERM, of which 223 were treated with combined phacovitrectomy
The mean postoperative refraction was very close to the predicted value, each patient retained some error after surgery
Summary
The epiretinal membrane (ERM), first described by Iwanoff in 1865, has been known by many names, including primary retinal folds, macular pucker, preretinal macular fibrosis, surface wrinkling retinopathy, preretinal macular fibrosis, internal retinal fibrosis, and cellophane maculopathy [1]. It appears as a glossy thin film on the macula resulting from proliferation of glial cells in front of the internal limiting membrane (ILM). In most ERM surgeries, the surgeon should consider cataract surgery, because most patients are elderly and the vitrectomy might induce a cataract [7]
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