[Morphology of the vitreoretinal interface in fellow eyes of patients with full thickness macular holes]

Purpose: We performed a retrospective, observational clinical study to evaluate the vitreoretinal interface (VRI) in fellow eyes of patients with full thickness macular holes (FTMH) based on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) examinations.

Methods: The VRI in fellow eyes of 38 patients with idiopathic FTMH, 6 of which had concomitant vitreomacular traction (VMT) and the VRI of 32 patients with FTMH with complete resolution of VMT were examined by SD-OCT for the presence of vitreomacular adhesion (VMA), VMT and the formation of FTMH, lamellar macular holes (LMH), macular pseudoholes (MPH) or epiretinal membranes (ERM). Patients underwent complete ophthalmic evaluation, including SD-OCT at baseline and follow-up visits. To classify the morphology of the VRI, we used the international vitreomacular traction study classification system by Duker et al. (Ophthalmology 2013), evaluating the baseline SD-OCT data for significant classification parameters, including size of VMA, macular thickness and volume and structural changes of retinal layers.

Results: Of the 38 eyes with FTMH, 2 (5.3%) fellow eyes also showed evidence of FTMH, 5 (13.2%) had isolated VMT while 5 (13.2%) showed formation of ERM, of which 2 demonstrated MPH. In 5 patients (13.2%) showing evidence of VMA and 17 patients (44.7%) with an unremarkable VRI, 22 fellow eyes (57.9%) showed no pathological morphology. Altogether, 16 fellow eyes (42.1%) of patients with FTMH showed pathological changes of the vitreoretinal interface.

Conclusion: This high-resolution SD-OCT-based retrospective study showed that fellow eyes of patients with VMT or FTMH were at increased risk of demonstrating pathological changes in the morphology of the VRI.