Instrument Tissue Interaction at the Grasp Site During Membrane Peeling of Epiretinal Membranes - a Retrospective Exploratory Study

Epiretinal membranes are a disease of the retinal surface, that may affect visual acuity and cause metamorphopsia, occurring in approximately 20% of the population older than 60 years, as reported by Mitchell et al.. Using vitrectomy with membrane peeling, postoperative improvement of visual acuity and metamorphopsia may be achieved in a majority of patients. The surgical method has been used for some time, the first report on the surgical method of vitrectomy with membrane peeling was published by Machemer and dates back to 1978. Since the introduction of intraoperative optical coherence tomography (iOCT), intraoperative iatrogenically induced changes in retinal tissue can be detected and correlated with postoperative changes. Leisser et al. has been able to record "stretching" of the retinal tissue using this technique and has also been able to record the rarely occurring subfoveal and extrafoveal elevations of the ellipsoidal zone due to membrane peeling. These changes did not significantly affect postoperative visual acuity, according to Leisser et al., but did affect the development of postoperative microscotomas. Nevertheless, iOCT has the potential to document instrument tissue interactions such as dipping into retinal tissue with the forceps during grasping of the ERM at the starting point of membrane peeling. Diaz et al. demonstrated that there are postoperative changes in the "nerve fiber layer" after ILM peeling, but in that study, no recording of instrument/tissue interactions was performed using iOCT.

The aim of this study is to examine dipping into retinal tissue with the forceps during grasping of the epiretinal membrane at the starting point of peeling with iOCT.