Intraretinal microvascular changes after ERM and ILM peeling using SSOCTA.

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Retinal Imaging
• Vascular Biology

Background:

• Epiretinal membrane (ERM) and internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling is a surgical procedure to treat vision impairment.
• Retinal vascular changes following ERM/ILM peeling require further investigation.
• Swept source optical coherence tomography angiography (SSOCTA) offers advanced imaging of retinal vasculature.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prospectively investigate retinal vascular changes after ERM and ILM peeling using SSOCTA.
• To correlate these vascular changes with ERM severity and visual acuity.
• To evaluate differences in vascular parameters between ERM severity groups.

Main Methods:

• Patients undergoing ERM/ILM peeling were grouped by ERM severity.
• SSOCTA was used to assess superficial and deep foveal avascular zones (sFAZ/dFAZ) and vessel density (VD).
• Vascular parameters were correlated with ERM severity, visual acuity, and other clinical factors up to 3 months post-surgery.

Main Results:

• ERM severity correlated significantly with baseline sFAZ, dFAZ, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), and central retinal subfield thickness.
• Vascular flow parameters correlated with intraretinal cysts but not with age, peeling size, or pseudophakia.
• Significant differences in sFAZ and dFAZ were observed between ERM severity groups at baseline and 3 months, but not for VD.

Conclusions:

• ERM staging is crucial for interpreting SSOCTA findings in idiopathic ERM patients.
• Specific changes in superficial and deep retinal vasculature occur post-ERM/ILM peeling.
• The clinical utility of SSOCTA-derived parameters (sFAZ, dFAZ, VD) for predicting post-surgical BCVA remains questionable.