Optical coherence tomography analysis of surgical outcomes of combined hamartoma of retina and retinal pigment epithelium

PURPOSE: To evaluate the surgical outcomes in combined hamartoma of retina and retinal pigment epithelium (CHRRPE) using optical coherence tomography (OCT). METHODS: This was a retrospective interventional study, in which medical records of 12 eyes with CHRRPE that underwent vitrectomy and membrane peeling at three tertiary vitreoretinal institutes were reviewed. Preoperative and postoperative color fundus photographs and OCT were reviewed for each follow-up visit. RESULTS: Five out of 12 eyes had a good visual outcome (equal or more than 2 lines gain in visual acuity), four had stable visual outcome (<2 line gain), and three had poor visual outcome (loss of visual acuity). Preretinal fibrosis preoperatively was seen in 80% of cases with good outcomes as compared to 50% and 0% of cases in the cohorts with stable and poor outcomes, respectively. Preoperatively all 5 cases with good visual outcome had Grade 4 epiretinal membrane (ERM), while only 1 case with stable and poor visual outcome had grade 4 ERM and the rest had Grade 3 ERM. Maxi peaks were seen in 80%, 50%, and 0% of cases preoperatively in the three cohorts, respectively. Hyperreflectivity of inner retinal layers preoperatively was evident in all cases having good visual outcomes, in 75% of cases with stable visual outcomes, and in 33% of cases with poor outcomes. CONCLUSION: Surgical intervention in CHRRPE with preretinal fibrosis seems to be beneficial. The visual recovery as defined by conventional predictors in cases of surgical removal of ERM fails to explain the visual outcome in CHRRPE.