Long-term incidence of reopening of macular holes.

OBJECTIVE

To report the incidence of macular hole reopening after initial successful surgery.

DESIGN

A noncomparative retrospective case series.

PARTICIPANTS

From a series of 137 consecutive cases of idiopathic macular holes operated on between August 1993 and May 1996, the authors analyzed the charts of 116 cases of successful surgery.

SETTING

A single university-based ophthalmology department.

INTERVENTION

Pars plana vitrectomy, posterior hyaloid peeling, fluid-air and air-gas exchange with a nonexpansile 17% C2F6 mixture followed by face-down positioning. Eighty-eight patients (64%) received autologous platelets as a biologic adjuvant. The anatomic success rate at the first postoperative month was 116 of 137 (85%). One hundred and six patients (91%) were followed up for more than 2 years.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Macular anatomic status.

RESULTS

Mean follow-up was 27 months. Eleven eyes of 11 patients (9.5%) had reopening of the macular hole. The mean period between hole surgery and reopening was 15.4 months (range, 8-29). In 8 of these 11 cases, reopening occurred after cataract extraction. In two cases, an epiretinal membrane was noted. In another case cystoid macular edema was present. The final anatomic success rate with one surgical procedure was 105 of 137 (77%). Eight reopened holes were reoperated on and all were anatomic successes at 1 month. However, four patients experienced a second reopening.

CONCLUSIONS

Macular hole reopening occurred in 9.5% of cases (11 of 116). The cause of reopening might have been any anatomic stress such as epiretinal membrane formation or macular edema. However, in most of our reopened cases, no definite cause was evident. Four patients experienced recurrent reopening.