Analysis of factors affecting the visual outcome after vitrectomy for idiopathic macular hole

Abstract

Objective To investigate the factors correlated with the visual outcome of idiopathic macular holes (IMH) after vitreoretinal surgery. Methods A total of 57 eyes of 57 patients with IMH were included. There were 43 females (43 eyes) and 14 male (14 eyes), mean age was (60.46±4.79) years. All the eyes underwent best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), slit-lamp microscope, three-mirror contact-lens and optical coherence tomography (OCT) examinations. BCVA were examined with interactional visual chart and recorded with logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) acuity. The minimum diameter and base diameter of macular holes and central retinal thickness (CRT) were detected by OCT. The average logMAR BCVA of 57 eyes was 0.98±0.41. The minimum diameter and base diameter of macular holes were (479.53±164.16) μm and (909.14±278.65) μm. All the patients underwent pars plana vitrectomy combined with phacoemulsification cataract extraction and intraocular lens implantation. The mean follow-up period was (173.44±147.46) months. The relationships between final BCVA and these parameters were examined by single and multiple regression analysis. The valuable influence factors were filtrated and formulated using multiple linear regression models. Results At the final follow-up, the logMAR BCVA of 57 eyes was 0.44±0.31, the CRT was (158.79±86.96) μm. The final BCVA was positive related to minimum diameter of macular holes and preoperative BCVA (r=0.420, 0.448; P=0.001, 0.000), negative related to postoperative CRT (r=-0.371, P=0.004). There was no relationship between the final BCVA and base diameter of macular holes, age and follow-up (r=0.203, -0.015, 0.000; P=0.130, 0.913, 0.999). The incidence of preoperative BCVA for postoperative BCVA was bigger than preoperative minimum diameter of macular holes (P=0.008, 0.020). Conclusion The preoperative minimum diameter of macular holes and BCVA are related to postoperative BCVA in IMH eyes. Key words: Retinal perforations/surgery; Vitreoretinal surgery; Root cause analysis