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Updated: Aug 5, 2026
An Acute Retinal Model for Evaluating Blood Retinal Barrier Breach and Potential Drugs for Treatment
Published on: September 13, 2016
Association between Treated Retinal Breaks and Epiretinal Membrane Development
Abdulkader Almosa1, Ahmed Abdi2, Ahmed M Alshaikhsalama2
1Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas.
Purpose:
To evaluate the temporal association between treatment of retinal breaks (RBs) without detachment using laser retinopexy or cryotherapy and the development of epiretinal membrane (ERM), including ERM peeling.
Design:
A retrospective cohort study.
Participants:
After propensity score matching and applying inclusion/exclusion criteria, 20 191 patients undergoing laser retinopexy and 730 patients undergoing cryotherapy were each compared with matched untreated RB controls.
Methods:
Data were extracted from a national clinical database (TriNetX). Patients with RBs without detachment treated with laser retinopexy or cryotherapy were compared with individuals with untreated RBs (control cohort).
Main Outcome Measures:
Relative risk of incident ERM formation and ERM peel at 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years after laser retinopexy or cryotherapy compared with untreated RB controls.
Results:
During the 5-year study period, both treatment cohorts demonstrated the highest risk of ERM formation early after intervention. In the laser retinopexy cohort, ERM risk was increased at 3 months (2.88% vs. 0.94%; relative risk [RR], 3.06) and remained elevated at 1 year (6.27% vs. 2.26%; RR, 2.77), with higher ERM peeling rates persisting through 5 years. In the cryotherapy cohort, ERM risk was increased at 6 months (5.34% vs. 1.92%; RR, 2.79) and 1 year (8.63% vs. 2.60%; RR, 3.32). Rates of ERM requiring surgical peeling were low and not estimable at several time points in the cryotherapy cohort because of small event counts. In direct comparison, no significant differences were observed between laser retinopexy and cryotherapy cohorts across all time points.
Conclusions:
Treatment of RBs without detachment with either laser retinopexy or cryotherapy is associated with an increased risk of ERM formation compared with untreated RBs, with the risk peaking early after treatment and persisting over time. No significant difference in ERM risk was observed between the treatment modalities, suggesting that ERM development may occur as a response to vitreoretinal disruption and inflammation regardless of the specific intervention performed.
Financial Disclosure(S):
The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
