Purpose: We used optical coherence tomography (OCT) for the staging of macular holes and compared our results with clinical and intraoperative findings.
Patients: Between 1 January 1997 and 15 October 1998, 80 patients underwent vitrectomy for idiopathic macular holes. In 36 cases we could record an OCT preoperatively and in 24 cases also postoperatively. OCT measurements were analyzed in a blind fashion independent of the clinical pre- and intraoperative 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 judged as stage 3 intraoperatively, while OCT revealed a stage 4 hole. Postoperatively, OCT results were consistent with the clinical findings in all 24 cases.
Conclusion: OCT scans are a valuable adjunct for the pre- and postoperative analysis of idiopathic macular holes. As the posterior hyaloid surface cannot always be reliably identified in OCT, discrimination between stage 3 and 4 is difficult.