Structural and functional outcomes after treatment of uveitic macular oedema: an optical coherence tomography and multifocal electroretinogram study

Abstract

Background:  The aim was to evaluate the correlation between the anatomical and functional outcomes before and after treatment of uveitic macular oedema.

Methods:  Thirty‐three eyes of 33 patients with uveitic macular oedema were included in the present study. Visual acuity (VA), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) were measured before and after treatment of the macular oedema. Correlation analyses between VA, OCT and mfERG parameters were performed.

Results:  The VA and mfERG measurements showed statistically significant improvement after treatment of the macular oedema (p < 0.01) and OCT‐measured central foveal thickness decreased significantly from 434 ± 135 µm before treatment to 267 ± 92 µm after treatment (p < 0.001). Correlation analyses showed that uveitic central foveal thickness before treatment was correlated with mfERG N1 response amplitude of area 1 (Spearman's r = ‐0.62, p < 0.001). VA (logMAR) after treatment had a negative correlation with the mfERG N1 response amplitude of area 1 (Spearman's r = ‐0.56, p = 0.001). Also, there was no correlation between the final VA and pre‐treatment OCT and mfERG measurements.

Conclusion:  This study deals with cystoid macular oedema associated with recurrent uveitis. In cystoid macular oedema, the value of mfERG before treatment is related to the central foveal thickness and VA. In contrast, after treatment the decrease of macular thickness is not always followed by an improvement of mfERG and VA. This supports the view that in uveitic macular oedema, the decrease in macular thickness after treatment may not be used as a predictor of improvement of macular function.

Key words:

• macular oedema
• multifocal electroretinography
• optical coherence tomography
• uveitis
• visual acuity