Factors Influencing Visual Acuity Following Vitrectomy for Exudative Age-related Macular Degeneration

Purpose: We investigated the influence of various factors on visual results in patients undergoing surgical removal of choroidal neovascular membranes (CNVM) caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD).Subjects and Methods: This study was performed in 55 eyes of 55 patients who underwent surgical removal of CNVM for AMD and followed them for 6 months or more. The criterion for surgical eligibility was active subfoveal choroidal neovascular membrane of 0.5 or more disc diameter above the retinal pigment epithelium with visual acuity of 0.3 or worse. We investigated the influence of various factors on the logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (log MAR) final visual acuity. The factors were age, symptom duration, preoperative log MAR visual acuity, CNVM diameter, mean deviation with visual field analyzer, previous laser treatment, posterior vitreous detachment, findings of indocyanine green angiography, operative complications, and recurrence of CNVM.Results: Better preoperative visual acuity, shorter symptom duration, and smaller CNVM diameter were correlated with better postoperative final visual acuity.Conclusions: Surgical excision of subfoveal CNVM may be the better therapeutic choice in selected cases with AMD.