FOVEAL AVASCULAR ZONE AREA ANALYSIS USING OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY BEFORE AND AFTER IDIOPATHIC...

To determine the size of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) by optical coherence tomography angiography before and after idiopathic epiretinal membrane surgery.

Thirteen consecutive patients (13 eyes) with unilateral epiretinal membrane were studied retrospectively. Optical coherence tomography angiography was used to measure the FAZ area within 3 mm × 3 mm scans of the superficial (superficial FAZ) and deep plexus layers (deep FAZ) before and 6 months after vitrectomy. The unaffected fellow eyes were used as controls.

The mean superficial and deep FAZ areas at 6 months after vitrectomy (0.080 ± 0.038 and 0.113 ± 0.045 mm, respectively) were significantly (P < 0.0001, P = 0.0035) larger than the corresponding mean preoperative FAZ areas (0.056 ± 0.030 and 0.082 ± 0.035 mm). However, the areas of FAZ expansion were small (0.024 ± 0.013 and 0.031 ± 0.031 mm). The mean postoperative superficial and deep FAZ areas were significantly (P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001) smaller than those of fellow eyes (0.295 ± 0.108 and 0.410 ± 0.142 mm). Multiple regression analysis showed that preoperative FAZ area had the highest correlation with postoperative FAZ area (P < 0.05).

This study showed horizontal contraction of the FAZ area in eyes with epiretinal membrane. Because preoperative FAZ area correlates with postoperative FAZ area, FAZ area may be a useful parameter for determining timing of surgery for epiretinal membrane.