Idiopathic macular hole

Abstract

Idiopathic macular hole is a disease that arises from adhesion in the vitreomacular interface and can theoretically be treated by vitrectomy surgery. Surgical techniques include removal of the vitreous with or without simultaneous peeling of the internal limiting membrane (ILM), fluid-air exchange, and gas tamponade. Since the advent of microincision vitrectomy surgery, macular hole surgery has been performed with minimal invasiveness, and significant visual improvement is a common outcome. This chapter describes the pathology of this disease, including presurgical evaluation using optical coherence tomography (OCT), and then shows the fundamental techniques required for the surgery. Also important is the understanding of the postsurgical 'healing' process of the disease, which may confirm the fact that the subjective improvement is closely related to the retinal imaging obtained by OCT. More recent advances are the inverted ILM peeling technique for larger macular holes and 27-gauge vitrectomy that can potentially minimize the surgical invasiveness mainly by smaller wound construction and the reduced volume of irrigation during surgery.