Effectiveness of ILM Peeling on Vitrectomy Patients with Diabetic Macular Edema.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of a combined procedure of peeling the internal limiting membrane with vitrectomy in diabetic macular edema. Methods: This study comprised 16 eyes of 16 patients hospitalized during a 1-year period. They were randomized to either a vitrectomy group (10 eyes in 10 patients) or to a combined procedure group (6 eyes in 6 patients). Preoperative and postoperative macular center thickness, best corrected visual acuity and postoperative complications 4 months postoperative were investigated. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in the mean values of preoperative and postoperative best corrected visual acuity (logMAR) between the two groups. The mean values of preoperative and postoperative macular center thickness in the vitrectomy group were respectively 509.50±36.77 and 332.60±91.73; while in the combined procedure group, they were 516.17±55.43 and 333.83±51.64. Again, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. At the 4-month follow-up, decreased visual acuity was found in 3 eyes of the vitrectomy group and in 2 eyes of the combined procedure group. Vitreous hemorrhage (3 eyes) and tractional retinal detachment (1 eye) were found in the vitrectomy group and vitreous hemorrhage (2 eyes) was diagnosed in the combined group. Conclusions: In our study, vitrectomy with peeling of the internal limiting membrane was not more effective than vitrectomy alone in decreasing macular edema or in improving best corrected visual acuity. Additional studies of the combined procedure are needed to verify this result.