Efficacy Evaluation of the VFQ-25 Scale in Patients with Different Degrees of Vitreous Opacity After Nd : YAG Laser Ablation

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of the VFQ-25 scale on the efficacy of Nd : YAG laser ablation in patients with different severity of vitreous opacities. METHODS: From January 2020 to March 2021, data of patients who presented to our department and were diagnosed with vitreous opacity were collected, and the severity of vitreous opacity was divided into four grades: I, II, III, and IV. Preoperative visual acuity, intraocular pressure, dilated fundus, B ultrasound, and other examinations were performed, and the patients were scored using the VFQ-25 scale. All patients underwent Nd : YAG laser ablation and were followed for 6 months. The VFQ-25 scale was again used postoperatively to score the patient's efficacy. The general information and clinical characteristics of the patients we collected. The Spearman's test was used to evaluate the correlation between VFQ-25 score and Nd : YAG laser efficacy in patients. RESULTS: A total of 80 patients (95 eyes) were included in this study. Vitreous opacities were grade I in 56 eyes (58.9%), grade II in 22 eyes (23.2%), grade III in 10 eyes (10.5%), and grade IV in 7 eyes (7.4%). Compared with preoperative scores, patients with vitreous opacity had significantly higher postoperative scores in terms of overall health (36.54 ± 17.06 vs 33.52 ± 16.74), overall visual acuity (60.39 ± 14.24 vs 57.56 ± 13.13), color vision (88.94 ± 12.56 vs 86.38 ± 12.37), and peripheral visual acuity (74.06 ± 18.38 vs 72.20 ± 18.79) items (all P < 0.001). The overall response rates of vitreous opacities I, II, III, and IV were 100%, 90.9%, 80.0%, and 71.4%, respectively. There was a significant correlation between the postoperative VFQ-25 total score, and the therapeutic effect of laser ablation for grade I vitreous opacities, with a correlation coefficient r of 0.417 (P=0.001). The correlation coefficient r between the total score of postoperative VFQ-25 and the treatment effect of grade II vitreous opacity was 0.622 (P=0.002). However, the correlation between the postoperative efficacy of grade III and IV patients and the VFQ-25 score was not significant. CONCLUSION: In patients with different degrees of vitreous opacity undergoing Nd : YAG laser vitreous ablation, the overall health, overall visual acuity, color vision, and peripheral visual acuity were improved after surgery, and the VFQ-25 score was significantly correlated with the postoperative efficacy, which is worthy of clinical use.