Abstract
Purpose :
To observe the subfoveal choroidal thickness and choriocapillary blood flow area before and after vitrectomy for Idiopathic Macular Hole (IMH) .
Methods :
Prospective clinical research. 14 patients with unilateral IMH (7 in stage 3, 7 in stage 4) and 14 age- and sex-matched normal controls met the inclusion criteria. The subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) measured at the fovea was detected by enhanced depth imaging of spectral-domain OCT. The choriocapillary blood flow area (CBFA) (diameter =1mm) was detected by Optovue RTVue 100 XR OCT. The SFCT and CBFA were measured at the baseline and 2 years after vitrectomy. The SFCT and CBFA were compared between three groups at the baseline and analyzed changes in affected eye group before and 2 years after vitrectomy.
Results :
As for SFCT and CBFA, the analysis was significantly different across the 3 groups at the baseline (P <0 .05, analysis of variance). The mean SFCT was (176.11±38.08) μm in the affected eye group, (191.22±53.6) μm in fellow eye group and (224.00±12.32) μm in normal control eye group, the choroid was thinner in affected eye and fellow eye than in control eye significantly (P < 0.05, Kruskal-Wallis test), but without statistical significance between the affected eye and the fellow eye group (P＞0.05). The mean CBFA was (1.42±0.33) in the affected eye group, (2.01±0.23) in fellow eye and (2.05±0.19) in control eye group. The CBFA reduced in affected eye than in fellow eye and control eye significantly (P < 0.05，Kruskal-Wallis test), but without statistical significance between the fellow eye and control eye (P＞0.05).
On the follow-up of 2 years after vitrectomy, 12 affected eyes were healing and 2 failed. The mean SFCT was (173.54±47.64) μm in the affected eye group. There were without statistical significance between preoperative and postoperative of affected eye (P＞0.05, paired t-test) . The mean CBFA was (1.81±0.11) in the affected eyes. The CBFA significantly increased after macular hole healing (P＜0.05, paired t-test).
Conclusions :
Subfoveal choroidal thickness that significantly reduced in IMH eyes before and after vitrectomy may play an important role in the pathogenesis of IMH. Choriocapillary blood flow area decreased in IMH eyes but increased after macular hole healing, it may suggest that the choriocapillary blood flow closely associated with the metabolism of macular fovea.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.