Cause Of Vision Loss Research Articles

Structural effects of intraretinal cysts on outer retinal layers in eyes with diabetic macular edema

BackgroundDiabetic macular edema (DME) is the main cause of visual loss in individuals with diabetic retinopathy (DR). This study aims to investigate the effects of central macular intraretinal cysts on the underlying outer retinal layer (ORL) in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME).MethodsIn this retrospective and cross-sectional study, diabetic patients with or without DR were categorized into three groups: without DME (group 1), with DME but without any cyst featuring a plateau in the lower region (group 2), and patients with cyst featuring an inferior cyst plateau (group 3), defined as a flat conformation at its posterior aspect. Variables such as central macular intraretinal cyst height, inferior cyst plateau, and ORL thickness were measured, and ellipsoid zone (EZ) disruption was assessed via Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and compared between groups. Correlations between OCT-measured variables and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were investigated.ResultsA total of 164 eyes were included: 48 in group 1, 47 in group 2 and 69 in group 3. Compared with Groups 1 and 2, Group 3 presented a greater intraretinal cyst height (p < 0.001), a thinner mean ORL beneath the cysts (p < 0.0001) and more frequent EZ disruption (p < 0.0001), which was associated with lower BCVA values. Cyst height, cyst plateau and ORL thickness were significantly correlated with BCVA (p < 0.0001). EZ disruption was associated with the cyst height, the cyst plateau and the underlying ORL thickness. Correlations were observed between cyst height and ORL thickness (r = − 0.32, p < 0.001), between cyst height and cyst plateau (r = 0.60, p < 0.001), and between cyst plateau and ORL thickness (r = − 0.56, p < 0.001). Every increase of 10 μm in plateau width and in cyst height results in reductions of 0.16 μm and 0.29 μm in ORL thickness, respectively, independent of the other parameters. The optimal cutoff point for cyst height that best discriminates plateau formation was determined to be 130.5 μm, with a sensitivity of 89.9% and specificity of 83%.ConclusionsIn patients with DME, large central intraretinal cysts may assume a flat configuration in their lower region, termed a plateau, and are associated with photoreceptor damage due to compression, which can result in visual impairment. These findings can be understood based on modified Hertz’s mechanical contact theory.

Patient and Physician Perspectives of Diabetic Retinopathy and Diabetic Macular Edema Diagnosis, Treatment and Progression: A Podcast Article.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the leading causes of vision loss among people of working age. However, people with diabetes are often unaware of the importance of DR screening for preserving vision, highlighting the importance of patient education about DR and DR-related ocular and systemic comorbidities. In this podcast, three patients with different stages of DR and two ophthalmologists exchanged their views on diagnosis, treatment, and progression of DR and diabetic macular edema. The discussion revealed that DR affects not only the physical aspects of patients' lives but also their mental wellbeing. The challenges of a DR diagnosis can be compounded by communication gaps that exist between patients, physicians, and the pharmaceutical industry. Development of new therapies is currently informed mainly by physician perspectives. However, the large burden of current treatments calls for new therapeutic approaches that meet patients' needs better. The preferred method of treatment administration can differ from patient to patient and the choices between treatments that necessitate repeated visits, monitoring, and at-home care must be discussed. As such, going forward it is crucial to consider both the physician and patient perspectives in shaping the clinical landscape of DR.

Levodopa is associated with reduced development of new-onset geographic atrophy in patients with age-related macular degeneration.

Geographic atrophy (GA) is a significant cause of vision loss in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Current treatments are limited to anti-complement drugs, which have limited efficacy to delay progression with significant risk of complications. Levodopa (L-DOPA) is a byproduct of melanin synthesis that is associated with reduced development of neovascular AMD. In this study, we determined if L-DOPA was associated with a reduced likelihood of new-onset GA. We performed a retrospective analysis in the Vestrum Health Retina Database. We included eyes with non-neovascular AMD without GA and 1-5years of follow-up. Eyes were divided into two groups. Exposed to L-DOPA before or on the date of non-neovascular AMD without GA diagnosis, and eyes not exposed to L-DOPA. We extracted age, sex, AREDS2 status, dry AMD stage, smoking history, and conversion rate to GA at years 1 through 5. Propensity score matching was used to match L-DOPA and control groups. Cox proportional hazard regression, adjusting for age, sex, AMD severity, AREDS2 use, smoking status, and L-DOPA use was employed to calculate hazard ratios for new-onset GA detection. We identified 112,089 control and 844 L-DOPA exposed eyes with non-neovascular AMD without GA. After propensity score matching, 2532 control and 844 L-DOPA exposed eyes remained that were well-matched for age, sex, AMD severity, AREDS2 use, and smoking status. We found that L-DOPA exposure was associated with a significantly reduced likelihood (HR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.48-0.95, P = 0.025) of new-onset GA detection. L-DOPA use was associated with reduced detection of new-onset GA.

Early detection of age-related macular degeneration using Vision Transformer-based Architectures – A comparative study with offline metrics and data augmenting

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of vision loss in elderly adults around the world and is among the main visual impairments in Mexico. The difficulty of diagnosing AMD in its early stages motivates the use of advanced deep-learning methods that offer significant potential to improve diagnostic accuracy in retinal image analysis. In recent years, Transformer architectures for computer vision, such as Vision Transformer (ViT), Swin Transformer and BERT Pre-training of Image Transformers (BEiT) have provided a novel perspective for image analysis. This study presents a comparative analysis of these architectures, applied to AMD detection, focusing on each model's capability to classify the early stages of the disease. Although the small size of medical image datasets represented a challenge, our results suggest that ViT-based architectures and their derivatives achieve significant performance in AMD detection. BEiT is particularly notable for its consistently superior performance.

Blood integrin and cytokine producing T cells are associated with stage and genetic risk score in age-related macular degeneration.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) remains a leading cause of vision loss in the geriatric population. There are age-related changes in peripheral blood leukocyte composition, but their significance for AMD remains unclear. We aimed to determine changes in immune cell populations in blood of AMD patients. A standardized 31 parameter flow cytometry analysis was conducted on peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 59 patients with early and advanced AMD and 39 controls without AMD older than 65 years. Fundus photography and optical coherence tomography were used to classify disease stages and a custom genotype array was used to compute an AMD genetic risk score based on 52 AMD disease risk variants (GRS-52). A generalized linear regression model corrected for age, sex, and smoking status revealed that AMD patients showed decreased frequencies of CD4-positive T helper cell population expressing Integrin Alpha E (CD103) (Padj = 0.019). We further noted that early AMD was characterized by increased interleukin-4 (IL-4)-producing CD4+ T helper cells (Padj = 0.013; <0.001), as well as IL-4-producing cytotoxic CD8+ T cells (Padj = 0.016; <0.001). Reclassification of samples based on the GRS-52 revealed that IL-17-producing T cells decreased incrementally across GRS-52 categories. In AMD, alterations in peripheral blood leukocyte populations are associated with genetic risk score and disease stage and include specifically IL-4 and IL-17A cytokine-producing and CD103 integrin expressing T cell populations.

Paediatric visual impairment in Western Australia: Results and lessons from a registry analysis.

Clinical registries are an important research tool to enhance our understanding of vision loss in the Australian paediatric population. We aim to provide an update on the epidemiology of visual impairment among Western Australian children using registry data analysis, and to highlight the challenges of registry data collection. This is a retrospective study of visual impairment and blindness registrations of children aged 0-16 years in Western Australia from 1996 to 2015. Blindness was defined as visual acuity ≤6/60 in the better-seeing eye or binocular visual field ≤20° diameter, with all other certifications labelled as visual impairment. Certificates were assessed for primary causes of vision loss by age strata and sex. Registration rate trends were analysed across three discrete registration periods. Of 11 800 certificates issued between 1996 and 2015, 728 certificates (6.2%) were issued to 710 children. Five hundred and twenty-nine (74.5%) certificates were issued for visual impairment and 181 (25.5%) for blindness. The leading cause of certification was inherited retinal disease (73, 10.3%), followed by cortical visual impairment (57, 8.0%) and albinism (56, 7.9%). The annual registration rate of visual impairment increased from 0.5 to 9.8 per 100 000 person-years across the study period, whereas blindness rates fell from 2.7 to 1.3. Overall registration rates of paediatric visual impairment in Western Australia are increasing, but these trends should be interpreted with caution given the known limitations of registry data. Enhancements of the registration process could be achieved through digitisation, inclusion of patient outcome data, and incentives for greater practitioner engagement.

Occlusive lesions of retinal vessels: etiological and patogenetic factors

Background. Vascular pathology of the organ of vision is one of the most urgent problems of ophthalmology, as it is the main cause of vision loss and vision loss. Retinal vein occlusion ranks second after diabetic retinopathy in the world among vascular causes of vision loss. In a significant risk group for the occurrence of occlusions of the retinal vessels are patients with cardiovascular diseases. Today, treatment of patients with coronary heart disease and patho­logy of heart valves is impossible without surgical interventions, most of which require the use of artificial circulation (AC). During the operation of the AC due to prolonged hypothermia, hemodilution, prolonged hypotension, anemia, development of ophthalmologic complications in the early postoperative period is possible. The purpose of the study was to investigate etiological and pathogenetic factors of occlusive lesions of retinal vessels. Mate­rials and methods. The search for sources of Ukrainian and foreign literature for the ana­lytical review was conducted keywords using the open medical scientific database PubMed (USA). At the first stage, 211 sources were selected, of which 66 were selected for this article. Results. Occlusion of the central retinal vein (CVO) deve­lops in 214 people per 100,000 population, mainly in people over 65 years of age. The frequency of branh retinal vein occlusions (BRVO) is 67.2%, of which 82.4% is a occlusion of the superior temporal branch. The main risk factors of CVO are age, hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis, glaucoma, coronary heart disease. A small number of sources are found in the literature regarding complications from the organ of vision in patients after cardiac surgery with AC such us thromboembolism of retinal vessels, optic ischemic optic neuropathy, retinal ischemia, optic nerve atrophy, retinal detachment, proliferative vitreoretinopathy. The authors' research showed a multiple increase in blood markers of endothelial dysfunction, including vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin, VE-C) after surgery. Conclusions. Diseases of the organ of vision due to general or local blood circulation disorders account for 10 to 28%, 2.6% of which lead to blindness. There is a relationship between occlusive lesions of retinal veins and cardiovascular diseases. The main reasons for the development of retinal vein occlusion after cardiac surgery with coronary artery disease are acute inflammation occurring during and immediately after surgery and endothelial dysfunction.

CNN-Based Integrated Framework for Enhanced Diabetic Retinopathy Detection

Background: Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), a significant cause of vision loss globally, is characterized by retinal damage caused by diabetes. Early detection is vital to prevent irreversible blindness, yet challenges remain in accurately identifying DR stages and enhancing blood vessel visibility in fundus images. This paper aims to develop an early detection methodology for DR, addressing the need for early diagnosis and the difficulties in distinguishing DR severity through fundus imaging. The challenges in the early detection of Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) and enhancing blood vessel visibility in fundus images are multifaceted, including issues such as data imbalance, image noise, and complex patterns. By addressing these challenges through advanced ML techniques and image processing methodologies, the proposed methodology in the paper aims to overcome the limitations in early detection and severity assessment of DR, contributing to improved patient outcomes and vision preservation. Methods: This study utilizes Machine Learning (ML) to analyze complex patterns in fundus color images of DR, employing spatial domain filtering to reduce image noise and address data imbalances across DR severity levels through data augmentation. A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), enhanced with a Gabor filter, is applied for stage-specific DR detection and to pinpoint infected areas. The dataset includes 1000 color fundus images, with a 70:30 split for training and testing, respectively. The adoption of a Gabor filtering technique aims to refine the model’s performance further. Results: The incorporation of a CNN with a Gabor filter has shown outstanding efficacy in detecting DR from fundus color images, achieving a training accuracy of 97.5%, validation accuracy of 96.5%, Cohen kappa score of 89.76%, and testing accuracy of 95.87%. This method effectively illustrates the disease-affected areas in the fundus images provided. Conclusion: Through a comparative analysis of image processing techniques, this research highlights the advantages of using advanced DR analysis for image preprocessing. The proposed CNN-Gabor filter approach demonstrates significant success in identifying diabetic retinopathy in fundus color photographs and accurately delineating the affected regions, contributing valuable insights to the field of medical image processing.

Advancements in Polymer Biomaterials as Scaffolds for Corneal Endothelium Tissue Engineering

Corneal endothelial dysfunction is a leading cause of vision loss globally, frequently requiring corneal transplantation. However, the limited availability of donor tissues, particularly in developing countries, has spurred on the exploration of tissue engineering strategies, with a focus on polymer biomaterials as scaffolds for corneal endotlhelium regeneration. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the advancements in polymer biomaterials, focusing on their role in supporting the growth, differentiation, and functional maintenance of human corneal endothelial cells (CECs). Key properties of scaffold materials, including optical clarity, biocompatibility, biodegradability, mechanical stability, permeability, and surface wettability, are discussed in detail. The review also explores the latest innovations in micro- and nano-topological morphologies, fabrication techniques such as electrospinning and 3D/4D bioprinting, and the integration of drug delivery systems into scaffolds. Despite significant progress, challenges remain in translating these technologies to clinical applications. Future directions for research are highlighted, including the need for improved biomaterial combinations, a deeper understanding of CEC biology, and the development of scalable manufacturing processes. This review aims to serve as a resource for researchers and clinician–scientists seeking to advance the field of corneal endothelium tissue engineering.

Dry age-related macular degeneration classification from optical coherence tomography images based on ensemble deep learning architecture.

Dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a retinal disease, which has been the third leading cause of vision loss. But current AMD classification technologies did not focus on the classification of early stage. This study aimed to develop a deep learning architecture to improve the classification accuracy of dry AMD, through the analysis of optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. We put forward an ensemble deep learning architecture which integrated four different convolution neural networks including ResNet50, EfficientNetB4, MobileNetV3 and Xception. All networks were pre-trained and fine-tuned. Then diverse convolution neural networks were combined. To classify OCT images, the proposed architecture was trained on the dataset from Shenyang Aier Excellence Hospital. The number of original images was 4,096 from 1,310 patients. After rotation and flipping operations, the dataset consisting of 16,384 retinal OCT images could be established. Evaluation and comparison obtained from three-fold cross-validation were used to show the advantage of the proposed architecture. Four metrics were applied to compare the performance of each base model. Moreover, different combination strategies were also compared to validate the merit of the proposed architecture. The results demonstrated that the proposed architecture could categorize various stages of AMD. Moreover, the proposed network could improve the classification performance of nascent geographic atrophy (nGA). In this article, an ensemble deep learning was proposed to classify dry AMD progression stages. The performance of the proposed architecture produced promising classification results which showed its advantage to provide global diagnosis for early AMD screening. The classification performance demonstrated its potential for individualized treatment plans for patients with AMD.

Vision impairment and blindness in individuals aged 60 years and older in Latin America and the Caribbean.

To determine the prevalence and causes of vision loss and calculate the effective cataract surgery coverage (eCSC) in adults aged 60 years and older in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2020. The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness Vision Atlas and the Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness databases were used as data source. The collected data were used to estimate the prevalence and causes of vision loss in people aged 60 years and older, and to determine the eCSC. The overall prevalence of moderate to severe vision impairment (MSVI) and blindness in Latin America and the Caribbean were 14.14% and 2.94%, respectively. Tropical Latin America was the subregion with the highest prevalence of blindness (3.89%) while Southern Latin America had the lowest (0.96%). For both MSVI and blindness, cataract was the main cause of vision loss. The eCSC rates showed great variation, ranging from 4.0% in Guatemala to 75.2% in Suriname. The prevalence of vision loss in adults aged 60 years and older in Latin America and the Caribbean was higher than previous estimates on younger groups. Cataract was the main cause of blindness, and the eCSC indicates that the outcomes from cataract surgery should be improved. Specific actions associated with improving access, integrating eye assessment with primary care programs, expanding the use of telemedicine, and improving data quality should be taken by public health authorities aiming to address vision loss in this group.

Neuroimaging in Optic Neuropathies

Optic neuropathy is a frequent cause of vision loss encountered during routine ophthalmology practice. While some of the cases can be easily diagnosed due to symptoms and examination findings, a significant group of them require neuroimaging tests for differential diagnosis. Imaging examinations such as magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, doppler ultrasonography, magnetic resonance, and computed tomography angiography provide valuable clues in differential diagnosis when used in appropriate clinical scenarios.

Cell Therapy for Retinal Degenerative Diseases: Progress and Prospects.

Background/Objectives: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) are leading causes of vision loss, with AMD affecting older populations and RP being a rarer, genetically inherited condition. Both diseases result in progressive retinal degeneration, for which current treatments remain inadequate in advanced stages. This review aims to provide an overview of the retina's anatomy and physiology, elucidate the pathophysiology of AMD and RP, and evaluate emerging cell-based therapies for these conditions. Methods: A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted, focusing on cell therapy approaches, including embryonic stem cells (ESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and retinal progenitor cells. Preclinical and clinical studies were analyzed to assess therapeutic potential, with attention to mechanisms such as cell replacement, neuroprotection, and paracrine effects. Relevant challenges, including ethical concerns and clinical translation, were also explored. Results: Cell-based therapies demonstrate potential for restoring retinal function and slowing disease progression through mechanisms like neuroprotection and cell replacement. Preclinical trials show promising outcomes, but clinical studies face significant hurdles, including challenges in cell delivery and long-term efficacy. Combination therapies integrating gene editing and biomaterials offer potential future advancements. Conclusions: While cell-based therapies for AMD and RP have made significant progress, substantial barriers to clinical application remain. Further research is essential to overcome these obstacles, improve delivery methods, and ensure the safe and effective translation of these therapies into clinical practice.

Optic Disc Features in Pathological Myopia And Myopic Optic Neuropathy

Pathological myopia is defined as excessive axial elongation accompanied by various structural changes in the fundus and optic disc, leading to a decrease in best-corrected visual acuity. Today, with the widespread use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in ophthalmology, optic disc pathologies have been identified in addition to fundus findings. Due to axial elongation, large optic disc, tilted optic disc, retinal nerve fiber changes, peripapillary atrophy, intachoroidal cavitation and peripapillary-prelaminar schisis are observed. Optic neuropathy occurs in some cases secondary to all these changes occurring in the optic disc. Myopic optic neuropathy can be examined under two headings: glaucomatous/glaucoma-like and nonglaucomatous. In this review, optic disc changes and myopic optic neuropathy, which are important causes of vision loss, are discussed.

Current Definition and Classification of Pathologic Myopia

Pathologic myopia is one of the leading causes of vision loss. Although there is comprehensive literature on pathologic myopia, there is confusion regarding its definition and classification. In this paper, the difference in definition between pathologic myopia and degenerative myopia, and the definition and classification of structural complications caused by pathologic myopia in the eye have been tried to be discussed in the light of current literature.

In vitro comparison of human and murine trabecular meshwork cells: implications for glaucoma research

The trabecular meshwork (TM) is crucial for regulating intraocular pressure (IOP), and its dysfunction significantly contributes to glaucoma, a leading cause of vision loss and blindness worldwide. Although rodents are commonly used as animal models in glaucoma research, the applicability of these findings to humans is limited due to the insufficient understanding of murine TM. This study aimed to compare primary human TM (hTM) and murine TM (mTM) cells in vitro to enhance the robustness and translatability of murine glaucoma models. In this in vitro study, we compared primary hTM and mTM cells under simulated physiological and pathological conditions by exposing both cell types to the glucocorticoid dexamethasone (DEX) and Transforming Growth Factor β (TGFB2), both of which are critical in the pathogenesis of several ophthalmological diseases, including glaucoma. Phagocytic properties were assessed using microbeads. Cells were analyzed through immunocytochemistry (ICC) and Western blot (WB) to evaluate the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) components, such as Fibronectin 1 (FN1) and Collagen IV (COL IV). Filamentous-Actin (F-Act) staining was used to analyze cross-linked actin network (CLAN) formation. Additionally, we evaluated cytoskeletal components, including Vimentin (VIM), Myocilin (MYOC), and Actin-alpha-2 (ACTA2). Our results demonstrated significant similarities between human and murine TM cells in basic morphology, phagocytic properties, and ECM and cytoskeletal component expression under both homeostatic and pathological conditions in vitro. Both human and murine TM cells exhibited epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) after exposure to DEX or TGFB2, with comparable CLAN formation observed in both species. However, there were significant differences in FN1 and MYOC induction between human and murine TM cells. Additionally, MYOC expression in hTM cells depended on fibronectin coating. Our study suggests that murine glaucoma models are potentially translatable to human TM. The observed similarities in ECM and cytoskeletal component expression and the comparable EMT response and CLAN formation support the utility of murine models in glaucoma research. The differences in FN1 and MYOC expression between hTM and mTM warrant further investigation due to their potential impact on TM properties. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the species-specific characteristics of TM and highlights opportunities to refine murine models for better relevance to human glaucoma.

Takayasu Arteritis Presented with Unilateral Vision Loss : A Case Report

Background: Takayasu Arteritis (TA) is a rare chronic granulomatous inflammation of the aorta or its branches and is prevalent all around the world. It causes stenosis of large arteries and ischaemic damage to target organs. There is usually a delay in recognising TA because of the rarity and unfamiliarity with the disease, unspecific early symptoms and lack of diagnostic equipment for early diagnosis. The purpose of the study to reminding readers of this issue and emphasize the necessity for further research on how to deal with in the best way. Case Report: We report a case of 30 years old male presented on 22nd August 2023 at Institute of Applied Health Sciences (IAHS) Chattogram with gradual loss of vision of left eye over a month accompanied by headache and later on diagnosed as a case of Takayasu’s Arteritis. Conclusion: Visual loss is the most common ocular symptom in Takayasu arteritis. Since a variety of causes may result in reduced vision in Takayasu arteritis. A careful history is very important to ascertain the cause of visual loss in Takayasu arteritis patients to reduce unnessary investigations and referrals. IAHS Medical Journal Volume 6(2) December 2023; 90-92

Framework Nucleic Acids Loaded with Quercetin: Protecting Retinal Neurovascular Unit via the Protein Kinase B/Heme Oxygenase-1 Pathway.

Retinal neovascular disease is a leading cause of vision loss and blindness globally. It occurs when abnormal new blood vessels form in the retina. In this study, we utilized tetrahedral framework nucleic acids (tFNAs) as vehicles to load quercetin (QUE), a small-molecule flavonoid, forming a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) nanocomplex, tFNAs-QUE. Our data show this nanocomplex inhibits pathological neovascularization, reduces the area of retinal nonperfusion area, protects retinal neurons, and preserves the visual function. Further, we discovered that tFNAs-QUE selectively upregulates the AKT/Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway, which can suppress pathological vascular growth and exert antioxidative effects. Therefore, this study presents a promising small-molecule-loading mechanism for the treatment of ischemic retinal diseases.

Atrophic Macular Degeneration and Stem Cell Therapy: A Clinical Review.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of visual loss in older patients. No effective drug is available for this pathology, but studies about therapy with stem cells replacing the damaged retinal cells with retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) were described. The documentation of AMD progression and the response to stem cell therapy have been performed by optical coherence tomography, microperimetry, and other diagnostic technologies.This chapter reports a clinical review of the most important clinical trials and protocols regarding the use of stem cells in AMD.

Vitreoschisis-induced vitreous cortex remnants in proliferative vitreoretinopathy: A comprehensive review from basic research to clinical practice.

Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) significantly impacts the prognosis of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD), one of the most critical and increasing causes of vision loss in the Western world. Despite advancements in surgical instruments and techniques, the failure rate due to PVR remains substantial, necessitating additional surgeries and often leading to unsatisfactory visual outcomes. This comprehensive review explores the role of vitreoschisis-induced vitreous cortex remnants (VCR) as a critical, previously under-recognised factor contributing to PVR. Vitreoschisis, a phenomenon where the inner lamellae of the posterior vitreous cortex detach while the outermost layers remain attached to the retina, creates VCR that may contain hyalocytes and serve as scaffolds for fibrocellular proliferation. These remnants are difficult to visualise without triamcinolone acetonide (TA) staining, leading to their frequent lack of recognition in clinical practice. Moreover, removing VCR can be challenging and time-consuming, often requiring meticulous surgical techniques to avoid retinal damage and ensure complete elimination. This review consolidates insights from basic research and clinical practice, emphasising the importance of complete vitreous removal and effective VCR detection and removal to mitigate PVR risks. It highlights the histopathological and clinical evidence supporting the hypothesis that VCR, containing hyalocytes, play a pivotal role in preretinal membrane formation. The review also discusses epidemiological data, surgical management strategies and potential future directions, including improved visualisation techniques and the development of new surgical tools and methods. This review aims to improve surgical outcomes and reduce the frequency and burden of RRD-related complications by addressing VCR as a critical factor in PVR.