Abstract
Purpose
To the describe OCT imaging characteristics of a cohort of patients showing spontaneously closing degenerative or mixed type lamellar macular holes (LMH) and to compare them to the ones of a sex and age matched group showing stable lesions.
Methods
Patients diagnosed with degenerative and mixed type LMHs showing OCT-documented spontaneous anatomical closure were retrospectively selected from 3 specialized retina centres. An equal number of age and sex matching subjects were randomly selected among patients with anatomically stable lesions.
Results
Eleven (11) spontaneously closing (SC group) and 11 stable (ST group) degenerative LMH with a mean follow up of 4 years were recruited. Hyperreflective inner border (HIB) and linear hyperreflectivity in the outer plexiform layer (LHOP) at baseline were significantly more prevalent in SC group in processed images (respectively p = 0.007 and p = 0.003). A borderline significance in lamellar hole associated epiretinal proliferation (LHEP) at last follow up was detected (p = 0.085). As for mixed type LMH, 10 patients for SC group and 10 for ST group were recruited. LHOP at baseline in processed images was significantly more prevalent in SC group (p = 0.005).
Conclusions
Spontaneously closing LMHs show higher prevalence of HIB and LHOP at the beginning of the closing process, a difference which is enhanced by image processing. These signs might be a signal of microglial and Muller cells coordinated activation.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 18 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $14.39 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Data availability
Data is available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.
References
Gass JD. Lamellar macular hole: a complication of cystoid macular edema after cataract extraction: a clinicopathologic case report. Trans Am Ophthalmol Soc. 1975;73:230–50.
Theodossiadis PG, Grigoropoulos VG, Emfietzoglou I, Nikolaidis P, Vergados I, Apostolopoulos M, et al. Evolution of lamellar macular hole studied by optical coherence tomography. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2009;247:13–20.
Govetto A, Dacquay Y, Farajzadeh M, Platner E, Hirabayashi K, Hosseini H, et al. Lamellar Macular Hole: Two Distinct Clinical Entities? Am J Ophthalmol. 2016;164:99–109.
Hubschman JP, Govetto A, Spaide RF, Schumann R, Steel D, Figueroa MS, et al. Optical coherence tomography-based consensus definition for lamellar macular hole. Br J Ophthalmol. 2020;104:1741–7.
Pang CE, Spaide RF, Freund KB. Epiretinal Proliferation Seen In Association With Lamellar Macular Holes: A Distinct Clinical Entity. RETINA 2014;34:1513–23.
Smiddy WE, Flynn HW. Pathogenesis of macular holes and therapeutic implications. Am J Ophthalmol. 2004;137:525–37.
Romano MR, Vallejo-Garcia JL, Camesasca FI, Vinciguerra P, Costagliola C. Vitreo-papillary adhesion as a prognostic factor in pseudo- and lamellar macular holes. Eye 2012;26:810–5.
Romano MR, Comune C, Ferrara M, Cennamo G, De Cillà S, Toto L, et al. Retinal Changes Induced by Epiretinal Tangential Forces. J Ophthalmol. 2015;2015:e372564.
Romano MR, Rossi T, Borgia A, Catania F, Sorrentino T, Ferrara M. Management of refractory and recurrent macular holes: A comprehensive review. Surv Ophthalmol. 2022;67:908–31.
Romano M, Catania F, Vallejo-Garcia JL, Sorrentino T, Crincoli E, Vinciguerra P. Variability of Visual Recovery with Time in Epiretinal Membrane Surgery: A Predictive Analysis Based on Retinal Layer OCT Thickness Changes. J Clin Med. 2023;12:2107.
Catania F, Allegrini D, Nembri A, Confalonieri F, Zollet P, Crincoli E, et al. Macular Microvascular Modifications in Progressive Lamellar Macular Holes. Diagnostics (Basel). 2021;11:1717.
Yeo JH, Oh R, Lee JY, Kim JG, Yoon YH, Kim YJ. Optical coherence tomography angiographic findings of lamellar macular hole: comparisons between tractional and degenerative subtypes. Sci Rep. 2020;10:13331.
Francone A, Yun L, Kothari N, Cheng I, Farajzadeh M, Govetto A, et al. Lamellar Macular Holes In The Presence Of Age-Related Macular Degeneration. RETINA 2020;40:1079–86.
Kim YH, Chung YR, Oh J, Kim SW, Lee CS, Yun C, et al. Optical coherence tomographic features of macular telangiectasia type 2: Korean Macular Telangiectasia Type 2 Study—Report No. 1. Sci Rep. 2020;10:16594.
Doshi RR, Fortun JA, Kim BT, Dubovy SR, Rosenfeld PJ. Pseudocystic foveal cavitation in tamoxifen retinopathy. Am J Ophthalmol. 2014;157:1291–1298.e3.
Figueroa MS, Govetto A, Steel DH, Sebag J, Virgili G, Hubschman JP. Pars Plana Vitrectomy For The Treatment Of Tractional And Degenerative Lamellar Macular Holes: Functional and Anatomical Results. RETINA 2019;39:2090–8.
Theodossiadis PG, Grigoropoulos VG, Emfietzoglou I, Nikolaidis P, Papathanasiou M, Theodossiadis GP. Spontaneous closure of lamellar macular holes studied by optical coherence tomography. Acta Ophthalmologica. 2012;90:96–8.
Chehaibou I, Manoharan N, Govetto A, Tsui I, Hubschman JP. Spontaneous Lamellar Macular Holes Closure. Retin Cases Brief Rep. 2020;16:397–400.
Shin HJ, Cho BJ. Comparison of Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness between Stratus and Spectralis OCT. Korean J Ophthalmol. 2011;25:166–73.
Suh MH, Seo JM, Park KH, Yu HG. Associations Between Macular Findings by Optical Coherence Tomography and Visual Outcomes After Epiretinal Membrane Removal. Am J Ophthalmol. 2009;147:473–480.e3.
Nava U, Cereda MG, Bottoni F, Preziosa C, Pellegrini M, Giani A, et al. Long-term follow-up of fellow eye in patients with lamellar macular hole. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2017;255:1485–92.
Compera D, Cereda MG, Schumann RG, Bottoni F. Development And Progression Of A Lamellar Macular Hole With Lamellar Hole–Associated Epiretinal Proliferation. Retinal Cases Brief Rep. 2019;13:371–5.
Chen L, Yang P, Kijlstra A. Distribution, markers, and functions of retinal microglia. Ocul Immunol Inflamm. 2002;10:27–39.
Zhang D, Hu X, Qian L, O’Callaghan JP, Hong JS. Astrogliosis in CNS pathologies: is there a role for microglia? Mol Neurobiol. 2010;41:232–41.
Wang M, Ma W, Zhao L, Fariss RN, Wong WT. Adaptive Müller cell responses to microglial activation mediate neuroprotection and coordinate inflammation in the retina. J Neuroinflammation. 2011;8:173.
Okamoto F, Sugiura Y, Okamoto Y, Hiraoka T, Oshika T. Inner Nuclear Layer Thickness As A Prognostic Factor For Metamorphopsia After Epiretinal Membrane Surgery. RETINA 2015;35:2107–14.
Nagasaka Y, Ito Y, Ueno S, Terasaki H. Number of Hyperreflective Foci in the Outer Retina Correlates with Inflammation and Photoreceptor Degeneration in Retinitis Pigmentosa. Ophthalmol Retin. 2018;2:726–34.
Midena E, Pilotto E, Bini S. Hyperreflective Intraretinal Foci as an OCT Biomarker of Retinal Inflammation in Diabetic Macular Edema. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2018;59:5366.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Conceptualization—FC, MRR; Methodology—FC, EC; Software—FC, EC; Validation, MRR, DA, AM, YA, ES, GC; Formal analysis—FC, EC; Investigation—FC, EC, DA, AM, IC, YA, WB, TC, ES, GC; Resources—MRR, ES, GC; Data curation—FC, EC, DA, IC, WB; Writing-original draft preparation—FC, MRR, EC; Writing-review and editing—FC, MRR, EC, AM, GC; Supervision—MRR, GC, ES; Project administration—MRR, GC.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Catania, F., Romano, M.R., Crincoli, E. et al. Phenomenology of spontaneous closure in degenerative and mixed type lamellar macular hole. Eye 38, 315–320 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-023-02681-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-023-02681-y