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.
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