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Updated: Jun 27, 2025
Author Spotlight: Ex Vivo OCT-Based Multimodal Imaging of Human Donor Eyes for Research into Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Published on: May 26, 2023
Vitreoretinal interface abnormalities in fellow eyes of patients with a macular hole
Koji Ueoka1,2, Tadashi Mizuguchi2, Masayuki Horiguchi2
1Department of Ophthalmology, Toyokawa City Hospital, Toyokawa, Aichi, Japan.
Objectives:
This study aimed to determine the incidence of bilateral macular holes (MHs), and to investigate the incidence and characteristics of retinal abnormalities in the fellow eyes, using high-definition optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Methods:
Medical records from 724 consecutive patients diagnosed with full-thickness MHs, who underwent surgery at Fujita Health University Hospital from May 2015 to March 2022, were retrospectively reviewed. Based on the exclusion criteria, 658 patients with idiopathic MHs were included. B-scan OCT images of the fellow eyes were used to identify vitreoretinal interface abnormalities, such as MHs, epiretinal membranes (ERMs), vitreomacular traction syndrome (VMTS) and lamellar macular holes (LMHs).
Results:
The mean age of the patients was 65.9±9.0 years. There were 292 males (44.4%) and 366 females (55.6%). There were 39 fellow eyes with MHs (5.9%), 77 with ERMs (11.7%), 32 with VMTS (4.9%) and 11 with LMHs (1.7%). Thirty-four fellow eyes (5.2%) could not be classified and 469 fellow eyes were normal (71.3%). Furthermore, the 39 bilateral MHs were divided into four stages according to the Gass classification, as follows: stage 1, 32 eyes (82.1%); stage 2, none (0%); stage 3, 5 eyes (12.8%); and stage 4, 2 eyes (5.1%).
Conclusions:
Vitreoretinal interface abnormalities, such as MHs, ERMs, VMTS and LMHs, are more common in the fellow eyes of patients with MHs than in the healthy population. The fellow eyes of patients with MHs should be carefully followed using OCT.
