Electroretinographic recordings with skin electrodes to assess effects of vitrectomy with gas tamponade on eyes with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the retinal function by electroretinograms (ERGs) recorded with the RETeval system using skin electrodes after pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with gas tamponade in eyes with a rhegmatogeneous retinal detachment (RRD). Flicker ERGs were recorded from 17 eyes with an RRD before (baseline), within 2 weeks after the PPV when the size of the tamponade gas was approximately one-half of the vitreous cavity (P1), and when the gas had been completely absorbed (P2). The amplitudes of the flicker ERGs at each phase were compared to that at the baseline. The median (25th, 75th percentile) of the amplitude was 10.0 µV (5.5, 13.0 µV) at the baseline, 11.7 µV at P1 (7.8, 14.8 µV; P = 0.003), and 17.1 µV at P2 (11.7 23.3 μV; P < 0.001). The ratio of the amplitudes in the affected eye to that in the fellow eye at the baseline and at each phase was calculated, and the ratio of the amplitudes at P1 and P2 were significantly and positively correlated (P = 0.723, P = 0.001; Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient). We conclude that recordings the flicker ERGs with skin electrodes can be used to assess the physiology of eyes even with the vitreous cavity half-filled with the gas used to tamponade the retina.

Electroretinogram changes before and after silicone oil removal in eyes with macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment

“…An increase in the waveform amplitude after SO removal has been reported [19,37,40], similar to the present study. This finding may support the hypothesis that the retina tolerates intraocular SO well [19,37,40].…”

“…Considering the findings of the aforementioned studies, the decline in the ERG waveform parameters may be a consequence of the nerve-conduction insulating effect [37,39]. An increase in the waveform amplitude after SO removal has been reported [19,37,40], similar to the present study. This finding may support the hypothesis that the retina tolerates intraocular SO well [19,37,40].…”

“…Nonetheless, whether the decline in ERG values in the SO-filled eyes is related to SO itself, the surgical procedure, or both remains unclear [19,20,36,38]. However, ERG values improved shortly after SO removal from the vitreous cavity, possibly reflecting its conduction-impeding effect [37]. Consistent with other published reports, our data imply a nonconductive effect of SO on the retina.…”

“…ERG waveforms can be recorded even in the presence of a non-conductive agent [34]. Some studies have suggested that ff ERG responses are diminished or even unrecordable in the SO-filled eyes compared to the healthy eyes [19,37]. Some authors have suspected deteriorative effects of SO on the retina and suggested that the reduction in ERG waveform amplitudes results from impaired retinal function caused by intravitreal SO [38,20].…”

Effects of recording sequence on flicker electroretinographics recorded with natural pupils corrected for pupil area

“…The RET eval system can be used to evaluate the retinal function in eyes with diabetic retinopathy (Maa et al, 2016 ; Fukuo et al 2016 ; Al‐Otaibi et al 2017 ; Değirmenci et al 2018 ; Zeng et al 2019 , 2020 ; Motz et al 2020 ), central retinal vein occlusion (Yasuda et al 2015 ; Miyata et al 2018 ), inherited retinal dystrophy (Grace et al 2017 ) and glaucoma (Tang et al 2018a , b ). This system can be especially useful when the physician wants to record the full‐field ERGs from children (Grace et al 2017 ; Osigian et al, 2019 ; Tekavčič Pompe & Šuštar 2019 ) or just after intraocular surgery (Terauchi et al 2019 ; Shibuya et al 2019 ).…”