Findings of optical coherence tomography (OCT) before and after macular hole surgery

Purpose: We used optical coherence tomography (OCT) for the staging of macu lar holes and compared our results with clinical and intraoperative finding s. Patients: Between 1 January 1997 and 15 October 1998, 80 patients underwent vitrectomy for idiopathic macular holes. In 36 cases we could record an OC T preoperatively and in 24 cases also postoperatively. OCT measurements wer e analyzed in a blind fashion independent of the clinical pre- and intraope rative findings. Results: Preoperative OCT staging was in agreement with the intraoperative findings in 24 of 36 cases. However, in 8 cases, the macular hole was judge d as stage 3 intraoperatively, while OCT revealed a stage 4 hole. Postopera tively, OCT results were consistent with the clinical findings in all 24 ca ses. Conclusion: OCT scans are a valuable adjunct for the pre- and postoperative analysis of idiopathic macular holes. As the posterior hyaloid surface can not always be reliably identified in OCT, discrimination between stage 3 an d 4 is difficult.