The Clinical Characteristics of Spontaneous Separated Idiopathic Epiretinal Membrane

Dong Hyun Kang; Seok Hyun Lee

doi:10.3341/jkos.2019.60.12.1216

Journal List > J Korean Ophthalmol Soc > v.60(12) > 1139584

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Kang and Lee: The Clinical Characteristics of Spontaneous Separated Idiopathic Epiretinal Membrane

Original Article

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2019;60(12):1216-1222.

Published online: 25 September 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2019.60.12.1216

The Clinical Characteristics of Spontaneous Separated Idiopathic Epiretinal Membrane

Dong Hyun Kang, MD, Seok Hyun Lee, MD

Department of Ophthalmology, Kim's Eye Hospital, Konyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Address reprint requests to Seok Hyun Lee, MD Kim's Eye Hospital, #136 Yeongsin-ro, Youngdeungpo-gu, Seoul 07301, Korea Tel: 82-2-2639-7667, Fax: 82-2-2639-6359 E-mail: seokhyuny@daum.net

Received 12 July 2019 Revised 12 August 2019 Accepted 29 November 2019

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the clinical characteristics of spontaneous separation of idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM) patients without any surgical treatment.

Methods

Retrospective medical records analysis was performed for patients with spontaneous separation of the idiopathic ERM without treatment. The patients' age, average time until ERM separation, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), refractive error, intraocular pressure (IOP), optical coherence tomography (OCT) data, central macular thickness (CMT), and the presence of posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) were evaluated and recorded.

Results

Twenty-two eyes of 22 patients were included in the study. The mean age of patients was 52.0 ± 8.6 years, and the average time until ERM separation was 14.1 ± 16.2 months. The average BCVA (logMAR) was 0.12 ± 0.12 before separation and improved (p = 0.032) to 0.07 ± 0.08 after separation. The average CMT before separation was 386.1 ± 63.2 μ m, after sepa-ration, the average CMT decreased (p < 0.001) to 299.1 ± 46.7 μ m. The differences in IOP and refractive error before and after ERM separation were not statistically significant. Not all patients experienced PVD before ERM separation, however, they all showed PVD after the separation.

Keywords: Epiretinal membrane, Foveal thickness, Optical coherence tomography, Spontaneous separation, Visual acuity

References

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Figure 1.

Opticalcoherence tomography images of macula with epiretinal membrane (A), and after spontaneous separation of epiretinal membrane in same eye (B). The central macular thickness decreased from 491 μ m to 297 μ m, and the patient's visual acuity (logMAR) was improved from 0.4 to 0.05. logMAR = logarithm of minimal angle of resolution.

Figure 2.

Opticalcoherence tomography images of macula with posterior vitreous adhesion (arrows) and epiretinal mem-brane (A), and posterior vitreous detachment (arrowheads) with spontaneous separated epiretinal membrane (B). The central macular thickness decreased from 337 μ m to 275 μ m.

Figure 3.

Fundus photograph (A, B) and opticalcoherence tomography images (C, D). Epiretinal membrane was shown at baseline images (A, C), and large floater (arrows) appeared after spontaneous separation of epiretinal membrane (B, D). The central macular thickness decreased from 401 μ m to 298 μ m.

Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of patients (n = 22)

Characteristic	Value
Age at first visit (years)	52.0 ± 8.6
Sex
Male	10 (45.5)
Female	12 (54.4)
Hypertension	3 (13.6)
Diabetes mellitus	2 (9.1)
Lens state
Crystalline lens	22 (100)
Pseudophakia or aphakia	0

Values are presented as mean ± standard deviation or number (%).

Table 2.

BCVA and CMT at first visit, before spontaneous separation, and after spontaneous separation

Variable	First visit	Before separation	After separation
BCVA (logMAR)	0.09 ± 0.11	0.12 ± 0.12 (p = 0.059)	0.07 ± 0.08 (p = 0.032)
CMT (μ m)	388.6 ± 60.1	386.1 ± 63.2 (p = 0.753)	299.1 ± 46.7 (p < 0.001)

Values are presented as mean ± standard deviation. BCVA = best corrected visual acuity; CMT = central macular thickness; logMAR = logarithm of minimal angle of resolution.

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