Macular Hole Development in Fellow Eyes of Patients with a Unilateral Macular Hole: An Optical Coherence Tomography Study

Abstract

Purpose: : To determine the incidence of full-thickness macular hole development in fellow eyes with a perifoveal posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) in patients with a unilateral idiopathic macular hole.

Methods: : The fellow eyes of 176 patients with a full-thickness macular hole were examined by optical coherence tomography (OCT) in this retrospective cross-sectional observational study. A subset of 42 fellow eyes with a perifoveal PVD was observed during follow-up, and the intrafoveal changes in the vitreofoveal morphology within 24 months from the initial OCT examination were investigated.

Results: : In the 42 eyes with a perifoveal PVD, a foveolar detachment developed in 16 eyes during follow-up. In those 16 eyes, a full-thickness macular hole developed in five eyes. Of the remaining 37 eyes, a vitreofoveal separation or a complete PVD without macular hole formation developed in 21 eyes, the vitreofoveal relationship did not change during the 24-month period in the other 16 eyes.

Conclusions: : Analysis of the intrafoveal changes seen on OCT showed that five (31%) of 16 fellow eyes with a foveolar detachment and a perifoveal PVD in patients with a unilateral idiopathic macular hole developed a full-thickness macular hole.

Keywords: macular holes • imaging/image analysis: clinical • macula/fovea