Successful macular hole surgery

Fixation stability influences the visual outcome following macular hole surgery, according to study results published in the January issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.

Luminita Tarita-Nistor of Toronto Western Hopital and York University, Toronto, Canada and colleagues measured the visual acuity of patients (n=10) before and one and three months after surgery to correct macular hole. The researchers measured fixation stability and fixation location using the MP-1 Microperimeter (Nidek Technologies Srl), and quantified the degree of stability and amount of location shift.

Following surgery, the fixation location shifted a mean of 0.55º at one month and 0.87º at three months. This did not correlate with visual outcome. The fixation stability, however - which improved from 0.35º² at one month to 0.29º² at three months - was a good predictor of visual outcome.

The researchers concluded that the improvements in motor function following macular hole closure accounts for the improvement in visual function, and that a change in the stability of the fixation predicts the degree of visual improvement after this type of surgery.