Electroretinograms Recorded with Skin Electrodes from Post-Vitrectomy Silicone Oil Filled Eyes with Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

Kirika Kanai, Yuro Igawa, Midori Tachibana, Yuji Yoshikawa, Takeshi Katsumoto, Masayuki Shibuya, Tatsukata Kawagoe, Jun Makita, Kei Shinoda Departments of Ophthalmology, Saitama Medical University, Faculty of Medicine, Saitama, 350-0495, JapanCorrespondence: Kei Shinoda, Departments of Ophthalmology, Saitama Medical University, Faculty of Medicine, 38 Moro-Hongo Moroyama-machi, Iruma-gun, Saitama, 350-0495, Japan, Tel +81-49-276-1250, Fax +81-49-295-8002, Email shinok@saitama-med.ac.jpPurpose: To determine the physiological status of the retina by electroretinography (ERG) using skin electrodes and the RETevalTM system in eyes that had undergone pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with silicone oil (SO) tamponade. The vitrectomy was performed for a retinal detachment and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR).Design: Retrospective case series.Methods: ERGs were recorded with the RETevalTM system (LKC Technologies Inc. Gaithersburg, MD; Welch Allyn, Inc. Skaneateles Falls, NY) from eight eyes with PDR before and after the SO removal. The amplitudes and implicit times of the a- and b-waves of the ERGs before the SO removal were compared to that after the SO removal.Results: ERGs were recordable in four eyes before and after the SO removal and the a- and b-amplitudes improved in three eyes and worsened in one eye after the SO removal. In the remaining four eyes, ERGs were non-recordable both before and after the SO removal.Conclusion: These results indicate that ERGs picked up by skin electrodes can be used to assess the physiology of the retina in eyes with a SO tamponade. The flat ERGs in the SO-filled eye indicated the presence of diffuse retinal damage which was confirmed by the flat ERGs after the SO removal.Plain Language Summary: There has been an increasing number of reports on evaluating the retinal function using electroretinography (ERG) with skin electrodes. The main advantage of this system is the ability to record ERGs with a skin electrode that does not touch