Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology
Open Access

Abstract

Comparison of Parafoveal Retinal Thickness in Eyes with Idiopathic Macular Hole to that with Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment after Vitrectomy

Kouichi Ohta, Atsuko Sato and Emi Fukui

Background:The foveal contour is asymmetrical in the horizontal optical coherence tomographic (OCT) images in idiopathic macula holes (IMHs) successfully closed by pars plana vitrectomy (PPV). The purpose of this study was to compare the parafoveal retinal contour after PPV followed by gas tamponade for IMHs to that after vitrectomy for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD).

Design:Retrospective study.

Participants:Eleven eyes of 11 IMH patients and 10 eyes of 10 RRD patients who underwent PPV.

Methods: The internal limiting membrane (ILM) was stained with indocyanine green and peeled in the IMH group but not in the RRD group. The postoperative retinal thickness was measured by spectral-domain OCT.

Main outcome measures:The parafoveal thicknesses of the operated eyes were compared to the corresponding areas of the fellow un-operated eyes.

Results: In the IMH group, the average postoperative thickness of the temporal sector was 312.6 μm and that of the corresponding area of the fellow eyes was 330.2 μm (P <0.05). Similarly, the thickness of the nasal sector was 362.6 μm and that of the fellow eyes was 345.8 μm (P<0.05). These differences were not observed in the RRD group. Additional measurements showed that the inner retinal layer was thinner in the temporal retina and the outer retinal layer was thicker in the nasal retina in the IMH group.

Conclusions:The postoperative asymmetrical foveal contour was observed in only the IMH group. We suggest that these alterations were caused by procedures, such as ILM peeling, rather than the gas tamponade.