Prevalence of Cystoid Macular Edema After Cataract Surgery in Eyes with Previous Macular Surgery.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the prevalence and risk factors for cystoid macular edema (CME) after cataract surgery in eyes that have previously undergone macular surgery.

STUDY DESIGN AND

METHODS

Retrospective consecutive interventional case series. Patient medical records and Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) were reviewed for eyes that underwent vitrectomy for full thickness macular hole (FTMH), lamellar macular hole (LMH) or epiretinal membrane (ERM) and subsequent cataract surgery at a large private retina practice between 2016 and 2018.

RESULTS

Around 9.1% of eyes (22/243) developed CME post cataract surgery. The mean time from macular surgery to cataract surgery was 273 days (range: 87-797) in eyes with CME and 289 days (range: 22-897) in eyes without CME (p = 0.67). There was no difference in final visual acuity between eyes with CME (20/40, logMAR 0.312) and without CME (20/30, logMAR 0.206) (p = 0.101). Compared with patients with FTMH or LMH, patients with epiretinal membrane were more likely to develop post cataract CME (OR = 2.97, p = 0.031, Chi square test).

CONCLUSION

In eyes with history of macular surgery, the prevalence of post cataract surgery CME was around 9.1%. The development of CME is not dependent on timing of cataract surgery but is more common in eyes with history of epiretinal membrane.