Changes of individual retinal layer thickness post-uneventful cataract surgery determined by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography over a 3-months period

Manuel Großpötzl; Eva Maria Malle; Regina Riedl; Jakob Daniel Gran; Daniel Djavid; Laura Posch-Pertl; Wilfried Maximilian Glatz; Thomas Falb; Ewald Lindner; Andreas Wedrich; Domagoj Ivastinovic

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e35096

Changes of individual retinal layer thickness post-uneventful cataract surgery determined by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography over a 3-months period

Heliyon. 2024 Jul 23;10(15):e35096. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e35096. eCollection 2024 Aug 15.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
² Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Documentation, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
³ Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia.

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate retinal thickness changes of individual retinal layers using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) after uneventful cataract surgery over a 3-months period.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Methods: 41 patients who underwent uneventful cataract surgery were included. Retinal SD-OCT images of both eyes were acquired preoperatively, 1 day after surgery as well as 1 month and 3 months postoperatively. Changes of retinal layer thickness were estimated after semi-automated segmentation for the following individual layers in the central subfield (CS, 1 mm) and inner ring (IR, 1-3 mm) of the early treatment diabetic retinopathy study (ETDRS) grid: retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), ganglion cell layer (GCL), inner plexiform layer (IPL), RNFL-GCL-IPL complex, inner nuclear layer (INL), outer plexiform layer (OPL), INL-OPL complex, outer nuclear layer (ONL), inner retina layer (IRL) and the total retina (TR). Furthermore, a sub-analysis with exclusion of patients devoid CME and an analysis in regard of patient age, lens status of the fellow eye, best corrected visual acuity and duration of surgery was conducted.

Results: This study found significant alterations in all analysed retinal layers except for the RNFL (p = 0.33) and the GCL (p = 0.06) in the central subfield and the INL-OPL complex (p = 0.07) in the inner ring over the 3-months period (all p < 0.05). Retinal thickness decreases on the first postoperative day, followed by a significant increase 1 month after surgery and subsequent reduction at 3 months following uneventful cataract surgery could be observed.

Conclusion: These results assume the hypothesis that the apex of inflammatory response, characterized by an augmentation in the thickness of individual retinal layers, occurs around 1 month after uneventful cataract surgery, and subsequently experience a reduction in activity. Therefore, we suggest that additional therapy for cystoid macular edema does not have to be initiated as early as the first month in mild cases.