title: Wider retinal artery trajectories in eyes with macular hole than in fellow eyes of patients with unilateral idiopathic macular hole.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether the width of the retinal artery (RA) trajectory was associated with the presence of a macular hole (MH).
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective cross sectional case-control study was performed. The fundus photographs were rotated 90 degrees, and the coordinates of the best fit curve of the RA trajectory were determined automatically based on these plots using the ImageJ program. The converted coordinates were fit to a second degree polynomial (ax2/100 + bx + c) equation. The width and steepness of the RA trajectory, "a", of the eyes with a MH eye were compared to that of the fellow eyes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and ten eyes of 55 consecutive patients (30 women) with a unilateral MH and healthy fellow eyes were analyzed. The mean age was 64.9 years (range 47-81 years). The constant 'a' was significantly smaller in eyes with a MH than that of the fellow eyes (0.379 ± 0.094 vs 0.416 ± 0.121, P = 0.001, paired t test), indicating that the RA trajectory was wider in the MH eyes than in the fellow eyes. There was a significant correlation between the axial length and 'a' of the RA trajectory in the MH eyes (R = 0.273, P = 0.044) and in the fellow eyes (R = 0.356, P = 0.008; Spearman's rank correlation coefficient).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Because eyes with a MH have a significantly wider and flatter RA trajectory, there may be greater traction on the fovea which is located between the RA arches. The causative role of this finding is still unclear.
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan.
authors: Naoya
authors: N
authors: Yoshihara
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan.
authors: Taiji
authors: T
authors: Sakamoto
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan.
authors: Takehiro
authors: T
authors: Yamashita
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan.
authors: Toshifumi
authors: T
authors: Yamashita
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan.
authors: Keita
authors: K
authors: Yamakiri
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan.
authors: Shozo
authors: S
authors: Sonoda
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors: Tatsuro
authors: T
authors: Ishibashi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012161:Retinal Artery / Q000473:pathology*; D012167:Retinal Perforations / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020255:Vitreous Detachment