Change in hole size and area of retinal detachment after pars plana vitrectomy in Gass stage III macular foramina
Effert, R.; Lommatzsch, A.; Wessing, A.
Der Ophthalmologe Zeitschrift der Deutschen Ophthalmologischen Gesellschaft 93(6): 666-669
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0941-293X PMID: 9081521 Document Number: 465984
In 15 patients with a stage III macular hole a pars plana vitrectomy with membrane peeling was performed. At the end of the operation a gas/air exchange was performed and patients had to lie face down for some days. Before and 4-7 months after the operation a picture of the posterior pole was taken with a Zeiss fundus camera. Pictures were digitized, and the area of the hole and of the surrounding detached retina was measured using a special image analyzer software. In seven cases an improvement of visual acuity was found; in the remaining eight cases visual acuity remained unchanged. In five cases (33%) the retina was totally attached around the hole. In eight cases the detached area had become smaller, in two cases larger, and in two cases we could no longer observe the rim of the hole. In the remaining cases the area of the holes changes by less than 10%. The results show that even in cases where total attachment of the surrounded retina cannot be achieved, reduction of the detached area can be expected in most cases. Simultaneously, a reduction of metamorphopsia can be observed. However, the improvement of visual acuity is not very high. That is why we will perform pars plana vitrectomy in stage III holes only in exceptional cases.