Effectiveness of the Cataract Prevention in Patients with Epiretinal Membrane after Vitrectomy

Purpose: tо evaluate effectiveness of cataractogenesis prophylaxis in patients with epiretinal membrane (ERM) after vitrectomy based on the pirenoxin use.

Patients and мethods. The study included 72 patients (64.5 ± 6.4 years old; 31 men, 41 women) with ERM before and after 25G microinvasive vitrectomy with removal of ERM. The 1-st group patients (36 eyes) received pirenoxin instillation (Catalin®; 3 times a day, 6 months) in addition to the standard pharmacological support. The 2-nd group patients received only standard therapy. All patients underwent: standard ophthalmologic examination; lens state photoregistration with an assessment of lens opacities intensity (LOCS-III classification) with the calculation of the cataract development index (CDI). These were control points: examination before vitrectomy and 5 months after surgery. At control points, the incidence of lens opacities in the observation groups was also evaluated. Statistical analysis included: calculation of the mean and its standard deviation (M ± s); assessment of the significance of differences in control points with each group (Wilcoxon's T-test) and between groups (Mann—Whitney U-test); Pearson xi-square test.

Results: In the 1-st group (pirenoxin instillation), 6 months after vitrectomy and ERM removal, the following indicators were noted: the initial cataract incidence was 5.6 %; CDI — 0.36 ± 0.03 points, increasing the maximum corrected visual acuity (MCVA) from 0.31 ± 0.03 to 0.6 ± 0.05. In the 2-nd group similar indicators significantly differed from the 1-st group data: the initial cataract incidence was 36.1 % (Pearson xi-square test > 3; p < 0.05); CDI — 3.1 ± 0.3 points (p < 0.01); the MCVA increase from 0.3 ± 0.05 to 0.43 ± 0.1 (p < 0.05).

Conclusion. Pirenoxin (Catalin®) has demonstrated quite high efficacy in the cataract prevention in patients after vitrectomy with ERM removal. 

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