PONE-D-25-12447Clinical Characteristics and Optical Coherence Tomography Findings in Epiretinal Membrane, Macular Pseudohole, Epiretinal Membrane-foveoschisis, and Lamellar Macular HolePLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Kubota,

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Reviewers' comments:

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Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: This study investigates the clinical characteristics, postoperative prognosis, and related factors of ERM, MPH, ERM-FS, and LMH in a relatively large cohort. The findings are highly valuable and contribute significantly to the field.

I have a few questions and suggestions for clarification:

1. How was macular volume measured and calculated? Please provide details on the methodology used.

2. The manuscript states that the ILM was inverted in cases of LMH with EP. How was the EP itself managed? Was it spared, embedded, or removed?

Additionally, the statement in line 268, "In our study, we peeled the ILM~," should be included in the Methods section for clarity and consistency.

3.It would be beneficial to include data on the extent of EZ disruption improvement in each postoperative group. If such an analysis has not yet been conducted, I encourage the authors to consider it in future studies.

Overall, this study provides important insights, and addressing these points would further enhance the clarity and impact of the findings.

Reviewer #2: This paper by Kubota et al. provides a detailed examination of ERM and related diseases through analysis of a large number of cases.

The paper would be improved by making the following revisions.

Major comments

L82-87 How did the authors classify cases where it was difficult to determine the type of disease, i.e. cases that appeared to be LMH or FS depending on the scan?

L87-90 Did the authors exclude cases in which a retinal hole was seen during surgery, even though it was not apparent before surgery?

L99-103 Are the parameters such as CST, CRT, and MV measured automatically or manually? Also, how many micrometers from the fovea is the area being measured?

Also, if they are measured manually, how many researchers measured them?

L127-128 Was there a significant difference in the rate of cataract surgery for each disease between the groups? The rate of cataract surgery may be related to the improvement in postoperative visual acuity.

In Table 1, axial length and spherical equivalent, and in Table 2, CRT, CFT, and MV, there is a significant difference according to the Tukey Krumer test, but it is difficult to see from the tables which groups have a significant difference. I advise you to create a graph to make it easier to understand visually.

Minor comments

Is the extent of ILM peeling standardized for the cases in this study?

If intraocular tamponade material was used during surgery, please add a breakdown of this to Table 1.

Is OCT evaluated from multiple directions, both horizontally and vertically?

Figure 1 does not have a legend, so this needs to be added.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Clinical Characteristics and Optical Coherence Tomography Findings in Epiretinal Membrane, Macular Pseudohole, Epiretinal Membrane-foveoschisis, and Lamellar Macular Hole

PONE-D-25-12447R1

Dear Dr..Kubota

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Jiro Kogo

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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