Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate a relationship between the preoperative fundus autofluorescence (FAF) at macular hole (MH) and the postoperative visual acuity after MH surgery
Methods:
The subjects were 20 eyes of 18 patients (8 eyes of 6 males, 14 eyes of 14 females; age range 54-78 years, mean 64.8 years) with primary Gass stage 4 MH who underwent vitrectomy between August 2007 and July 2009. These eyes were monitored at least for 3 months. Eyes where MH closure was unsuccessful after the initial surgery, those which had previously undergone vitreous surgery, and those with a history of other macular disorders had been excluded. Preoperative FAF was imaged with a fundus camera (FC-FAF) and a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO-FAF), and the ratio (M-D ratio) of FAF brightness at the bottom of the MH to that at the optic disc was calculated. The relationships between the postoperative visual acuity up to 12 months and the M-D ratio, age, gender, preoperative best corrected visual acuity, estimated time that had elapsed before surgery, and macular hole diameter were investigated. logMAR visual acuity was converted from decimal visual acuity.
Results:
Of the 20 eyes, 15 (75%) were monitored for 6 months and 13 eyes (65%) for 12 months. Mean logMAR visual acuity was 0.63 at baseline, 0.33 at 1 months, 0.32 at 3 months, 0.30 at 6 months, and 0.27 at 12 months postoperatively, with significant improvements seen after 1 months (p<0.01). The factor correlated with the postoperative visual acuity was the M-D ratio on FC-FAF, which was significantly correlated with visual acuity 6 and 12 months postoperatively (p=0.01 and 0.02, r =0.66 and 0.67, respectively). There were no correlations with any other factors.
Conclusions:
The M-D ratio on preoperative FC-FAF can be a predictor for postoperative visual acuity achieved after long-time follow-up.
Keywords: 762 vitreoretinal surgery •
754 visual acuity