Macular holes associated with diabetic tractional retinal detachments.

Background And Objective: Evaluation of surgical treatment of full-thickness macular holes secondary to diabetic tractional retinal detachments was conducted.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective review of medical records, fluorescein angiograms, fundus photographs, optical coherence tomography images, and operative findings of six consecutive patients with full-thickness macular holes and diabetic tractional retinal detachments was completed. Each eye was treated with pars plana vitrectomy, tractional retinal detachment repair, membranectomy, indocyanine green-assisted internal limiting membrane peeling, and intraocular gas tamponade.

Results: Surgical intervention resulted in the closure of all full-thickness macular holes. Mean best-corrected visual acuity was 20/250 preoperatively and 20/100 postoperatively, with all patients having improvement after a mean follow-up of 10 months.

Conclusion: Closure of tractional retinal detachments related to full-thickness macular holes can be achieved via pars plana vitrectomy, complete membranectomy, and intraocular gas. Vitrectomy with dissection of proliferative membranes helps to relieve the tractional forces responsible for full-thickness macular hole formation, enabling successful closure of the diabetic full-thickness macular holes and resulting in visual acuity improvement.