PREOPERATIVE VITREORETINAL INTERFACE ABNORMALITIES ON SPECTRAL DOMAIN OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY AS RISK FACTOR FOR PSEUDOPHAKIC CYSTOID MACULAR EDEMA AFTER PHACOEMULSIFICATION.

PURPOSE: We assessed the role of vitreoretinal interface status in the development of pseudophakic cystoid macular edema (PCME) after cataract surgery.

METHODS

Prospective cohort study in which 112 patients (112 eyes) scheduled for cataract surgery were selected at random to undergo spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) within 1 week preoperatively and at 1 and 3 months postoperatively. Spectral domain OCT macular images included no vitreoretinal contact, focal and diffuse vitreomacular adhesion, focal and diffuse vitreomacular traction, epiretinal membrane, macular hole, and macular edema.

RESULTS

The incidence of PCME was 11.6% (13 eyes), all of them being diagnosed at 1 month, and 7 eyes resolved at 3 months. The only risk factor for PCME was detection of nonsurgical epiretinal membrane by spectral domain OCT before phacoemulsification, being developed in 5 of 16 eyes (χ = 0.08, odds ratio 4.53, 95% confidence interval 1.28-16.13). Other variables such as posterior vitreous detachment, subfoveal choroidal thickness, diabetes, or hypertension were not significantly associated with PCME.

CONCLUSION

In this cohort, preoperative detection of epiretinal membrane by spectral domain OCT was a risk factor for PCME after cataract extraction. It is recommended to perform a spectral domain OCT before cataract surgery because the presence of an epiretinal membrane may be passed unnoticed by fundus examination.