Structural and Vascular Findings in Autologous Retinal Transplantation for Macular Hole.

PURPOSE: To describe the fluorescein angiography (FA) and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) findings in autologous retinal transplantation for refractory full-thickness macular hole (FTMH).

METHODS

A single case was reviewed.

RESULTS

A 71-year-old Hispanic man presented with a refractory FTMH for which internal limiting membrane peel and gas tamponade had previously failed. The axial length was 23.17 mm, and the basal diameter measured 1500 µm (corrected to 1448.13 µm). The patient underwent pars plana vitrectomy and autologous retinal transplantation with short-term perfluoro-n-octane heavy liquid, followed by gas tamponade. The patient was followed for 4 years (48 months). Complete anatomic closure of the FTMH was seen on OCT. The preoperative best-corrected Snellen visual acuity was counting fingers, which improved to 20/100 at 13 months postoperatively. FA showed intragraft vascularization, and evidence of reperfusion at the superficial plexus level was seen on OCTA.

CONCLUSIONS

Autologous retinal transplantation for this large, refractory FTMH provided anatomic closure with vascularization of the graft and improvement in visual acuity.