Analysis of Complications for Epiretinal Membrane and Macular Hole Surgery Performed by Vitreoretinal Fellows and Consultants

Figures & data

Table 1 Patient Demographics, Preoperative Ocular Data and Tamponade Agents

		Pre-Operative Diagnosis						p value
		MH (n=161)		ERM (n=110)		Total (n=271)
		Freq	%	Freq	%	Freq	%
Age, years		57.35 ± 19.46		61.77 ±15.66		59.15 ± 18.11		0.470
Gender	Male	69	42.9	72	65.5	141	52.0	< 0.001
	Female	92	57.1	38	34.5	130	48.0
Eye	OD	81	50.3	61	55.5	142	52.4	0.405
	OS	80	49.7	49	44.5	129	47.6
Diabetes	Yes	58	36.0	77	70.0	135	49.8	< 0.001
	No	103	64.0	33	30.0	136	50.2
Grade of Surgeon	Consultant	89	55.3	66	60.0	155	57.2	0.441
	Fellow	72	44.7	44	40.0	116	42.8
Lens status	Phakic	96	59.6	46	41.8	142	52.4	0.003
	Pseudophakic	65	40.4	62	56.4	127	46.9
	Aphakic	0	0.0	2	1.8	2	0.7
Tamponade	None	1	0.6	48	43.6	49	18.1	< 0.001
	SF6	93	57.8	19	17.3	112	41.3
	C3F8	46	28.6	9	8.2	55	20.3
	Air	3	1.9	28	25.5	31	11.4
	Silicone Oil	18	11.2	6	5.5	24	8.9

Abbreviations: MH, macular hole; ERM, epiretinal membrane; Freq, frequency; C3F8, perfluoropropane; SF6, sulphur hexafluoride.

Table 2 Intraoperative Complication Rates According to Surgical Indication

		Pre-Operative Diagnosis						p value
		MH (n=161)		ERM (n=110)		Total (n=271)
		Freq	%	Freq	%	Freq	%
Lens touch	No	159	98.8	110	100.0	269	99.3	0.516
	Yes	2	1.2	0	0.0	2	0.7
Retinal breaks	No	143	88.8	93	84.5	236	87.1	0.303
	Yes	18	11.2	17	15.5	35	12.9
Retinal Detachment	No	161	100.0	107	97.3	268	98.9	0.066
	Yes	0	0.0	3	2.7	3	1.1

Abbreviations: MH, macular hole; ERM, epiretinal membrane; Freq, frequency.

Table 3 Intraoperative Breakdown of Retinal Breaks by Surgeon Grade

		Pre-Operative Diagnosis
		MH (n=161)				ERM (n=110)				Total (n=271)
		Consultant		Fellow		Consultant		Fellow		Consultant		Fellow
		Count	%	Count	%	Count	%	Count	%	Count	%	Count	%
Retinal breaks	No	76	85.4	67	93.1	58	87.9	35	79.5	134	86.5	102	87.9
	Yes	13	14.6	5	6.9	8	12.1	9	20.5	21	13.5	14	12.1

Abbreviations: MH, macular hole; ERM, epiretinal membrane.

Table 4 Post-Operative OCT Changes

OCT Changes	Pre-Operative Diagnosis
	MH (n=161)				ERM (n=110)				Total (n=271)				Total
	Consultant (n=89)		Fellow (n=72)		Consultant (n=66)		Fellow (n=44)		Consultant (n=155)		Fellow (n=116)
	Freq	%	Freq	%	Freq	%	Freq	%	Freq	%	Freq	%
Closed MH	55	61.8	52	72.2	0	0.0	0	0.0	55	35.5	52	44.8	66.4%
Persistent MH	34	38.2	20	27.8	0	0.0	0	0.0	34	21.9	20	17.2	33.6%
No ERM	0	0.0	0	0.0	55	83.3	39	88.6	55	35.5	39	33.6	85.4%
Persistent ERM	0	0.0	0	0.0	11	16.7	5	11.4	11	7.1	5	4.3	14.6%
Localized retinal thinning	18	20.2	16	22.2	21	31.8	15	34.1	39	25.2	31	26.7	MH 21.1%	ERM 32.6%	ALL 25.8%
EZ disruption	16	18.0	17	23.6	10	15.2	9	20.5	26	16.8	26	22.4	MH 20.4%	ERM 17.2%	ALL 19.1%
Persistent CME	1	1.1	1	1.4	15	22.7	8	18.2	16	10.3	9	7.8	MH 1.2%	ERM 20.9%	ALL 9.2%

Abbreviations: MH, macular hole; ERM, epiretinal membrane; OCT, optical coherence tomography; EZ, ellipsoid zone; CME, cystoid macular edema.