Natural course of vitreomacular traction syndrome observed by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.

OBJECTIVE

Our study aimed to characterize the natural course of vitreomacular traction (VMT) syndrome, on which discrepancies have been reported in previous publications, by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).

DESIGN

Retrospective chart review.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 23 eyes of 23 patients with idiopathic symptomatic VMT syndrome diagnosed and followed up in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from 2008 to 2013.

METHODS

Clinical records of all patients who underwent SD-OCT examination and were diagnosed and followed up as idiopathic VMT syndrome were reviewed. Those who had at least 2 visits were included. The median observation period of the patients was 8.2 ± 7.9 months.

RESULTS

The 23 eyes were categorized into 3 groups based on the follow-up results of SD-OCT: the posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) group comprised 4 eyes that developed complete PVD, the full-thickness macular hole (FMH) group included 4 eyes that formed FMH, and the persisted VMT (PVMT) group comprised the other 15 eyes with PVMT. Epiretinal membrane (ERM) persisted in all 5 eyes in the PVMT group. FMH occurred in 3 of 7 eyes with outer lamellar macular hole (LMH) at the first visit.

CONCLUSIONS

Spontaneous development of complete PVD in VMT syndrome during follow-up appeared to be more common in our study than in previous reports without SD-OCT. Persistence of ERM might be an unfavourable prognostic factor in the natural course of VMT syndrome. The outer LMH might be a risk factor for FMH formation.