title: Role of multifocal electroretinography in the diagnosis of idiopathic macular hole.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the preoperative results of multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) in the fellow eyes of patients with idiopathic unilateral macular hole and to evaluate the usefulness of this method in predicting the likelihood of macular hole formation in the fellow eye.
  
  
  METHODS
  Over a period of 5 years, 80 eyes of 40 patients (mean age, 64.9 years) with unilateral idiopathic macular hole were examined. The diagnosis of idiopathic macular hole was confirmed by optical coherence tomography (OCT). The fellow eyes were intact in all cases. All patients underwent vitreoretinal surgery. Before the surgery, both eyes of the patients were examined by mfERG. During the follow-up period, the 40 fellow eyes were also observed by OCT, and the changes in the vitreofoveal attachment were investigated. The preoperative response densities and ring ratios of mfERG were analyzed in both eyes, and discriminant analysis was used to calculate the best separator function.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Preoperative mfERGs demonstrated significantly lower mean response densities in the central area of the 40 eyes with macular hole than in the fellow eyes. During the follow-up period, macular hole was diagnosed in 13 fellow eyes by OCT. The preoperative values of the mfERGs in these eyes were significantly lower than in the other 27 cases. The mfERG ring ratios were significantly lower in the fellow eyes in which macular holes developed than in those that remained intact.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The analysis of ERG in the fellow eyes of patients with macular hole seems clinically useful. The lower amplitude may forecast the propensity for subsequent development of a macular hole. Patients with low central ERG amplitude and lower ring ratios in the healthy fellow eyes should have stricter follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tuzson
authors.forename: Balázs
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Varsanyi
authors.forename: Balázs
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vince Nagy
authors.forename: Balázs
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lesch
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vámos
authors.forename: János
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Németh
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farkas
authors.forename: Mária
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferencz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004596:Electroretinography / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008875:Middle Aged; D012160:Retina / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012167:Retinal Perforations / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence