Idiopathic macular hole is a disease of the eye with unknown cause, but a pathology that, over the course of several decades of investigation by clinicians and researchers alike, has become readily treatable with surgical intervention at a very high rate of successful repair. The current study presents a retrospective case series exploring surgical outcomes for treatment of recurrent macular holes. The study additionally provides a window into the past, present, and future of macular holes across all clinical considerations, and importantly performs a supplementary statistical meta analysis of reoperation success rates in the relevant field of published data- the first of its kind. The introductory background of the present study establishes a natural history of idiopathic macular holes in clinical discovery, classification, and management. The study's case series data specifically focuses on the phenomenon of macular hole recurrence, offering surgical outcome measures of patients undergoing primary and secondary repair operations in a single-center, single-surgeon design. The findings of the retrospective series support the hypothesis that macular hole reoperation does achieve successful anatomical closure in a majority of cases. A meta analysis performed on the current field of published clinical research pertaining to recurrent macular holes established cumulative success rates across a variety of surgical conditions. The present study's findings were then compared to the corresponding measures across the landscape of recurrent macular hole literature, to help inform a niche of clinical research that continues to be an area of investigation and discovery. In presenting a cohesive, synthesized narrative of recurrent macular holes, the study provides a foundation wherein ongoing collaborative efforts in the field can continue to build upon a blueprint currently set in place, and work towards finding a cause behind an otherwise idiopathic disease.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/16129 |
| Date | 08 April 2016 |
| Creators | Sharifzadeh, Arya |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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