2MD, FEBO, FICO, Department of Ophthalmology, Kayseri City Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Science, Kayseri, Turkey DOI : 10.37845/ret.vit.2023.32.9 Purpose: We aimed to evaluate choroidal morphological and vascular features of patients with idiopathic macular holes (MHs) compared to contralateral fellow eyes and control eyes.
Methods: This comparative, observational study reviewed 32 patients with unilateral MHs who underwent MH surgery. Choroid was imaged using the EDI mode of spectral-domain (SD) OCT. Choroidal thicknesses (CT) were measured from the subfoveal region. Choroidal vascularity index (CVI) was calculated with ImageJ software.
Results: A significant choroidal thinning was observed in eyes with MHs compared to contralateral fellow eyes (242.2 ± 31.4 ?m vs. 267.1 ± 26.1 ?m, p<0.0001) and control eyes (242.2 ± 31.4 ?m vs. 263.7 ± 37.9 ?m, p=0.016). Subfoveal CVI was lower in the eyes with MHs compared to the fellow eyes (61.2% vs. 64.4%, p<0.0001) and control eyes (61.2% vs. 64.8%, p<0.0001). There was a significant relationship between subfoveal CVI and final LogMAR best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) (standardized coefficients beta= -0.248, p=0.014). MH was successfully closed following the surgery in 27 patients (84.4%). In the persistent holes, preoperative duration of decreased visual acuity was significantly longer (p=0.0004), and the diameter of MH was significantly larger than in those with closed holes (p=0.009).
Conclusion: This study showed that the mean CT and CVI values were decreased in eyes with MHs. These findings may be due to mechanical damage in the process of MH formation or metabolic changes in oxygen and other nutrients in the fovea. Higher CVI values were associated with more significant improvement in final BCVA after MH surgery.
Keywords : Macular hole, Choroidal thickness, Choroidal vascularity index, Surgery, Outcome