Abstract
Purpose :
To determine the relationship between the alterations in the preoperative morphology of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the postoperative recovery after surgery to close an idiopathic macular hole (MH).
Methods :
Forty-five eyes of 45 patients with an idiopathic MH were studied. Pars plana vitrectomy was performed with the removal of the internal limiting membrane (ILM). The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was measured, and the retinal morphology including the small RPE protrusions at the bottom of MH were determined by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) before and at 1 and 3 months postoperatively.
Results :
The mean age of the patients was 65.6 years. Thirty-one eyes (69%) had preoperative alterations of the RPE. The minimal (P<0.001) and the base (P <0.001) diameters of the MH were significantly larger in eyes with preoperative RPE alterations. The BCVA was significantly worse at the baseline (P = 0.028) in eyes with RPE alterations. The defect of the ellipsoid zone was significantly longer in eyes with baseline RPE alterations at 1 and 3 months postoperatively (P<0.001 and P=0.006).
Conclusions :
The RPE alterations observed at the baseline were significantly correlated with slower morphological recovery after MH closure.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.