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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Ex Vivo OCT-Based Multimodal Imaging of Human Donor Eyes for Research into Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Published on: May 26, 2023
Macular hole development in fellow eyes of patients with unilateral macular hole
Hideyasu Niwa1, Hiroko Terasaki, Yasuki Ito
1Nagoya University School of Medicine, 65 Tsuruma-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan.
Purpose:
To determine the incidence of developing an idiopathic full-thickness macular hole in fellow eyes that have vitreofoveal attachments and perifoveal vitreous detachment in patients with unilateral idiopathic macular hole.
Design:
Retrospective cross-sectional observational study.
Methods:
The fellow eyes of 201 patients with full-thickness macular holes were examined by optical coherence tomography (OCT). A subset of 58 fellow eyes with vitreofoveal attachments and perifoveal vitreous detachment was observed during follow-up, and the changes in the vitreofoveal attachment within 24 months from the initial OCT examination were investigated.
Results:
In the 58 eyes, the vitreofoveal relationship changed in 27 eyes. Among the 27 eyes, three eyes developed a full-thickness macular hole, and the other 24 eyes developed a posterior vitreous detachment only over the fovea or a complete posterior vitreous detachment without macular hole formation. The vitreofoveal relationship did not change in 31 eyes during the 24-month period.
Conclusion:
From an analysis of the changes in the vitreoretinal relationship identified by OCT, three (11%) of 27 fellow eyes in patients with unilateral idiopathic macular hole developed a full-thickness macular hole.
