Diagnostic precision of a microscope-integrated intraoperative OCT device in patients with epiretinal membranes

Preoperative and postoperative optical coherence tomography (OCT) of macular pathologies can be regarded as the gold standard diagnostic technique, providing detailed information on the microstructures of the macula for planning the surgical procedure and comparing improvements after surgery in the follow-up period. Intraoperative use of OCT is a novel application to support surgeons during macular surgery. The aim of this study was to examine the diagnostic precision of a microscope-integrated intraoperative spectral-domain OCT (i-OCT) device and compare imaging results to a stand-alone spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT) device.

This prospective study included 41 eyes of 41 patients scheduled for pars plana vitrectomy with membrane peeling due to an idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM). Intraoperative imaging with the i-OCT device was performed at the beginning of the surgery and compared to preoperative SD-OCT images.

Preoperative and intraoperative SD-OCT evaluations showed high intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility for the presence of ERM, lamellar macular hole, and vitreomacular traction. For intraretinal cystoid changes, intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility for both OCTs was rather poor, mainly due to microcystic changes.

Intraoperative spectral-domain OCT offers high reproducibility regarding the visibility of ERM, lamellar macular holes, and vitreomacular traction. Microcystic changes cause discrepancies in interpretation, often simply diagnosed as retinal thickening.