[Diagnostic performance of laser retinal imaging in the epiretinal membrane]

Objective: To determine the diagnostic performance of confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (cSLO)-based retinal imaging in the epiretinal membrane (ERM) patients. Methods: Prospective case series study. Twenty-six patients (32 eyes) with ERM determined by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) were recruited from June 2015 to October 2015 in the Beijing Tongren Eye Center. All subjects underwent retinal imaging using the cSLO-based Heidelberg MultiColor (Spectralis HRA-2; Heidelberg Engineering) technology and the traditional color fundus camera. A special grading score was used to analyze every retinal image according to the SD-OCT results. Results: In the ERM patients, the largest average grading score in the cSLO-based retinal imaging was 3.44±0.80 with the blue and green enhanced MultiColor image, followed by the standard MultiColor image (2.84± 0.85), green laser image (2.16±0.77) and blue laser image (2.09±0.78), and they all had statistical differences compared with the grading scores of retinal imaging using the traditional color fundus camera (all P<0.001). No significant difference was found in grading scores between using the infra-red laser imaging (1.13±0.71) and the traditional color fundus camera (P=0.282). Conclusion: In the detection of ERM, the imaging quality of cSLO-based Heidelberg MultiColor technology is better than the traditional color fundus camera technology. Combined with SD-OCT sectional analysis, it can help diagnose and monitor ERM. (Chin J Ophthalmol, 2016, 52: 836-839).