Optical coherence tomography characteristics of full-thickness traumatic macular holes

The objective of this paper is to describe the optical coherence tomography (OCT) characteristics of patients with full-thickness traumatic macular hole (TMH) and to correlate them with biomicroscopy findings.

Twelve eyes of ten consecutive patients with full-thickness TMH participated in this observational retrospective multicentre study. Patients underwent biomicroscopic fundus examination, colour fundus photography, and OCT.

Traumatic macular hole was documented with OCT in five women and five men. Mean (range) time between trauma and macular hole (MH) diagnosis was 8.1 (1-24) months. The shape of TMHs was round in 11 (91.7%) eyes. The posterior vitreous was completely detached in six (50%) eyes, and with an operculum in one (8.3%) eye. The common findings seen on OCT were: (1) full-thickness loss of retinal tissue through the hole with sharp edges, perpendicular to the retinal pigment epithelium in five (41.7%) eyes; (2) TMH with an operculum totally detached from the hole's edge in two (16.7%) eyes; (3) presence of epiretinal membrane around of the hole in three (25%) eyes; and (4) presence of abnormalities of the surrounding retina in all (100%) eyes. The OCT characteristics correlated well with biomicroscopic findings, and these characteristics may be predictive for final visual acuity (VA) in TMHs. Only one of the TMHs closed spontaneously in our series.

Optical coherence tomography complements biomicroscopy in the evaluation of full-thickness TMHs.