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Vision continues improving past 1 year postop in vitrectomy-treated macular edema patients
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Performing vitrectomy can improve vision in patients who develop macular edema and foveal hemorrhage associated with branch retinal vein occlusion, a study shows. Vision can also continue to improve beyond 1 year postop, the study authors noted.
Kazuyuki Kumagai, MD, and colleagues studied 120 eyes of 120 patients treated with pars plana vitrectomy either with or without internal limiting membrane peeling for macular edema with foveal hemorrhage attributed to branch retinal vein occlusion. Surgeons also performed simultaneous cataract extraction and IOL implantation in 117 phakic eyes, according to the study.
Follow-up averaged 48 months and ranged from 12 months to 129 months.
Investigators found that visual acuity had improved in 71% of eyes at 1-year follow-up. Mean VA improved from 0.24 before surgery to 0.57 at 1 year postop and to 0.66 at final follow-up. Overall, 95 patients (79%) had a final VA of 0.5 or better and 55 patients (46%) had final VA of 1.0 or better, according to the study.
"[Internal limiting membrane] removal did not seem to have significant beneficial effects on visual outcomes in this series," the authors said, noting that no patients experienced any serious complications during follow-up.
The study is published in the June issue of Retina.