Characteristics of patients with complete visual acuity recovery after vitrectomy for macula-off retinal detachment.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate potential factors predicting complete recovery of visual acuity following surgery for macula off retinal detachment (RD).

Patients And Methods: Retrospective review of patients operated for macula-off RD at Jules-Gonin Eye Hospital between January 2015 and December 2016. The study included patients with visual acuity recovery of 0 LogMAR. A control group of 83 patients with comparable baseline characteristics but partial recovery of visual acuity after vitrectomy for macula-off RD was used for statistical comparison analysis.

Results: Seventy-four patients, 46 males (62%) and 28 females (38%), were included. Mean age was 65 years (standard deviation: 12). Median follow-up was 6 months (interquartile range: 3). Fifty patients (68%) were pseudophakic. Median pre-op best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 2 LogMAR (interquartile range: 1.22). Forty-three of the patients (58%) had preoperative BCVA equivalent of count fingers or less. The majority of the patients (91%) had up to 3-day duration of macular detachment (MD) before surgery. In comparison only 18% of the group of patients with partial recovery of visual acuity after vitrectomy for macula-off RD had been operated within 3 days of MD (p < 0.0001). In 63% of the 40 cases in whom an optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the fovea could be interpreted, OCT image showed a retained foveal depression of the detached retina, whereas only 35% of the 46 control eyes with adequate OCT imaging showed a retained foveal depression (p = 0.01).

Conclusions: In our study, patients had significantly better chances of complete visual acuity recovery when operated within 3 days of MD in comparison to more delayed surgery. Additionally, preservation of the foveal depression of the detached retina appeared to be a common characteristic among patients demonstrating complete visual recovery.