title: Clinicopathologic correlation of stage 2 macular hole.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide histopathologic correlation of the appearance of a stage 2 macular hole.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 79-year-old woman presented with a recent onset of mildly decreased vision in the right eye. With slit-lamp biomicroscopic examination and fundus photography, she was diagnosed as having a stage 2 macular hole. Her vision remained stable thereafter without intervention for 15 months. She died 6 months after her final follow-up examination. Postmortem histopathologic examination of the right eye was carried out by light microscopy of conventional and immunoperoxidase-stained sections.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The clinical appearance of a stage 2 macular hole in this patient corresponded with findings of intraretinal splitting, which extended beyond an area of surface retinal defect.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surface retinal defects associated with intraretinal splitting are a pathway in the development of a macular hole.
authors.affiliation: Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, 97239, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Klein
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012167:Retinal Perforations / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*