Relationship between morphological changes in the foveal avascular zone of the epiretinal membrane and postoperative visual function

Objective To investigate the relationship between the preoperative morphology of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) and postoperative visual function in patients with idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM). Methods and analysis This retrospective study enrolled 36 patients who underwent a unilateral internal limiting membrane peeling with vitrectomy for idiopathic ERM. We measured the area of superficial FAZ in the eyes with ERM and in the contralateral control eyes preoperatively and at 6 months postoperatively using optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography. The ERM stage was measured using swept-source OCT. We evaluated the FAZ area ratio (preoperative FAZ of the ERM eye/FAZ of the control eye) to indicate the degree of FAZ contraction in the ERM eyes compared with the control eyes. The correlations between the FAZ area ratio and postoperative visual function and changes in macular morphology were assessed. Results Preoperative mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) significantly improved from the logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution 0.20 +/- 0.24 to 0.01 +/- 0.13 at 6 months postoperatively (p<0.01). The mean area of the FAZ increased significantly from 0.06 +/- 0.07 mm(2) preoperatively to 0.09 +/- 0.07 mm(2) after vitrectomy (p<0.01). FAZ area ratio showed significant negative correlations with changes in BCVA (r=-0.44, p<0.01) and the ERM stages (r=-0.56, p<0.01). Conclusion The FAZ is reduced as ERM progresses and enlarges after vitrectomy. The FAZ area ratio based on preoperative FAZ may predict postoperative visual acuity.