Macular epiretinal membrane formation and treated retinal breaks.

PURPOSE

We sought to determine the incidence of macular epiretinal membrane formation in eyes treated for retinal breaks after three different modalities of treatment: laser photocoagulation, cryotherapy, or both.

METHODS

We reviewed the charts of 262 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of retinal tears and included 205 patients who had more than six months of follow-up.

RESULTS

One hundred ninety-five patients were treated. One hundred seventy of these patients had retinal breaks in one eye and 25 patients had breaks in both eyes, for a total of 220 treated eyes. Cryopexy was applied in 125 eyes, laser retinopexy in 73 eyes, and both modalities in 22 eyes. Macular epiretinal membranes developed in a total of 26 eyes: 12 in the cryopexy group, ten in the laser-treated group, and four in the dual modality group. No statistically significant difference, at a level of P < or = .01, was seen in the rate of epiretinal membrane formation between the different treatment modalities. No statistically significant difference, at a level of P < or = .01, was seen in the rate of epiretinal membrane formation in the presence or absence of vitreous hemorrhage or in the type of precedent retinal break.

CONCLUSIONS

After treatment of retinal breaks with laser photocoagulation and cryotherapy, no statistically significant difference in the incidence of macular epiretinal membrane formation was demonstrated.