vitrectomy with internal limiting membrane peeling in acute central retinal vein occlusion presenting with low vision

purpose: to evaluate the visual and anatomical outcomes of pars plana vitrectomy and indocyanine green (icg) assisted internal limiting membrane (ilm) peeling in fresh central retinal vein occlusion (crvo) with primary low vision. methods: in a prospective interventional case series, 15 eyes of 15 patients with fresh crvo (less than 3 months’ duration) and presenting best-corrected visual acuity (bcva) less than 20/200, underwent standard 3-port pars plana vitrectomy and icg assisted ilm peeling. bcva and central macular thickness (cmt) by optical coherence tomography (oct) were evaluated 2 weeks and 1, 2, 4 and 6 months postoperatively and when needed thereafter.  results: the patients included 8 male and 7 female subjects with mean age of 54.7±11.9 (range 29-75) years. mean duration of symptoms at the time of surgery was 51.7±17.8 (range 26-85) days. crvo was ischemic in 12 eyes (80%) and non-ischemic in 3 eyes (20%). patients were followed for 9.5±4.8 (range 6-23) months. mean bcva (logmar) was 1.86±0.37 at presentation which improved to 1.65±0.40 at 2 weeks (p=0.23), 1.68±0.39 at one month (p=0.095), 1.60±0.46 at 2 months (p=0.069), 1.72±0.72 at 4 months (p=0.423), 1.58±0.69 at 6 months (p=0.140) and 1.42±0.37 at last visit (p=0.006). mean cmt was 605.5±279.2 mm preoperatively which was decreased to 527.4±274.3 µm at 2 weeks (p=0.371), 624.4±336.7 µm at one month (p=0.773), 546.4±344.9 µm at 2 months (p= 0.491), 343.3±256.9 µm at 4 months (p=0.250), 369.3±207.5 µm at 6 months (p=0.078) and 368.9±199.0 µm at final visit (p=0.03). conclusion: pars plana vitrectomy with ilm peeling in patients with fresh crvo and low presenting visual acuity (<20/200) may improve visual acuity and decrease in cmt in long-term follow-up, but does not seem to have any significant effect in comparison to the natural course of crvo. certain postoperative complications such as vitreous hemorrhage are relatively common requiring repeat vitreoretinal surgery. therefore, we do not recommend this procedure for such patients.