12th Vitreoretinal Symposium Frankfurt – Marburg 2009

Scientific programm: Abstract

1st scientific session: Interface Macular Hole

3. Macular Hole Surgery: Long Term Outcomes

Colin A. McCannel (Los Angeles)

Purpose: To evaluate the outcomes of macular hole surgery with extended follow up.
Methods: A retrospective review of macular hole surgeries between the years 1998 and 2003, inclusive, was performed. Minimum follow up required for inclusion was 1 month. Initial data collection and analysis occurred through 2003, and follow up data collection and analysis through 2006. Data collected included visual acuity, before and after final visit after macular hole surgery, closure status, occurrence of retinal detachments. Snellen visual acuities were converted to LogMar equivalents for vision calculations. Categorical data were assessed with chi square analysis.
Results: 83 surgical cases met inclusion criteria. For 55 patients additional follow-up information was obtained after the initial analysis. 61 surgeries occurred in eyes of females (73.5%). Overall closure rate was 94.0% and re-openings occurred in 5 eyes in which ILM was not peeled (p<0.05). Mean vision at last follow up was 20/52, and 51 eyes had a visual acuity of 20/40 or better (61.4%), and 12 eyes had a visual acuity of 20/20 (14.5%). Last follow up was after a mean of 45 months (range 1 to 106 months), 25 patients had more than 5years of follow up. Retinal detachments occurred within the first year of surgery in 2 eyes, and after the first year in 2 additional eyes.
Conclusions: Vision outcomes and macular hole closure after macular hole surgery appear to be stable even after extended follow-up. Re-openings were associated with the lack of ILM peeling, though closure rate was not significantly affected by ILM peeling in this cohort.