title: Long-term observation of the vitreomacular relationship in normal fellow eyes of patients with unilateral idiopathic macular holes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe long-term changes in the vitreomacular relationship in normal fellow eyes of patients with unilateral idiopathic macular holes (MHs).
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a retrospective, observational case series. The medical records of patients who underwent surgery for idiopathic MHs between May 2000 and December 2010 were reviewed. Patients who had clinically normal fellow eyes and underwent 12 months or more of follow-up were included. The vitreomacular relationship in the fellow eyes was evaluated using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and slit-lamp biomicroscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study included 153 patients with a mean age of 65.5 years and a mean follow-up of 33.5 months (range, 12-121). The incidence of vitreomacular attachments evaluated by OCT was 52% (80 eyes) at initial examination, which decreased to 41, 37 and 23% at 1, 2 and 3 years after the initial examination, respectively. Of the 80 eyes with vitreomacular attachments at initial examination, 40 (50%) still had vitreomacular attachments at the final visit. Of the remaining 40 eyes in which vitreomacular separation occurred during follow-up, 11 (28%) developed an MH, with a mean interval of 45 months. None of the eyes with vitreomacular separation at presentation developed an MH.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This largest series of fellow eyes of MHs followed by OCT shows that, at presentation, about half of the patients already have premacular vitreous detachment and therefore no risk of MH, and that second MH develops in about 30% in the process of vitreomacular separation, which evolves over a prolonged period.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kagoshima City Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: Futoshi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Otsuji
authors.forename: Akinori
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uemura
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: Taiji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008266:Macula Lutea / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D012167:Retinal Perforations / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D014792:Visual Acuity; D014821:Vitrectomy; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000473:pathology*