Assessment of Macular Function Following Internal Limiting Membrane Peeling With ILM Blue®

Purpose To evaluate clinical outcome after surgery of idiopathic epiretinal membranes (ERM) with internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling using a commercial combination of Brilliant blue G (BBG, 0.25 mg/ml) with 4% polyethylene glycol (PEG). Methods It was a prospective, single-center study. Macular surgery was performed due to ERM (n = 18) by two experienced surgeons. Exclusion criteria were secondary ERM, previous retinal surgery and pharmacological treatment. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and multifocal ERG (RETIscan) were assessed at baseline and three months after surgery. Results The BCVA improved from baseline 0.4 ± 0.13 logMAR to 0.3 ± 0.2 logMAR after three months (p > 0.05). The mean central foveal thickness was reduced from 407 ± 85 μm to 366 ± 56 μm after three months (p > 0.05). At baseline, the mean P1 amplitude (nV/deg(2)) was 53.5 ± 32.1 in ring 1 and 35.9 ± 20.1 in ring 2. Three months after surgery the mean P1 amplitude was comparable with 57.2 ± 16.3 in ring 1 and 38.0 ± 11.7 in ring 2 compared with the initial situation (p = 0.22 and p = 0.3, respectively). Conclusion BBG with 4% PEG can be used for ILM peeling in patients with idiopathic epiretinal membranes without any sign of short-term toxicity.