title: Reappraisal of spontaneous closure rate of idiopathic full-thickness macular holes.
abstract: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 142 eyes of 138 patients with idiopathic full-thickness macular hole. Spontaneous closure of idiopathic full-thickness macular hole was observed in five eyes (3.5%) of four patients before the planned vitrectomy. In the era when surgical treatment was not available for macular hole, the rate of spontaneous closure of idiopathic full-thickness macular hole was reported as 6.2%. Among several case reports on spontaneous closure of idiopathic full-thickness macular hole based on the optical coherence tomography images only one study reported the rate of spontaneous closure as 2.7%. According to the previous reports and our results, small idiopathic full-thickness macular holes may close spontaneously in a few percent of all macular hole cases. The rate of spontaneous closure may be affected by the waiting time before vitrectomy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Shimokato 1110, Chuo, Yamanashi, 409-3898, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.forename: Mitsuhiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imasawa
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chiba
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iijima