Hydromassage of macular hole edges for large and persistent full-thickness macular holes

●AIM:To introduce the macular hole(MH)hydromassage technique as a potentially beneficial approach for the treatment of large or persistent MH.●METHODS:This retrospective observational case series comprised 16 consecutive patients(17 eyes)diagnosed with MH.Inclusion criteria involved a hole aperture diameter larger than 600μm or the presence of an unclosed MH larger than 600μm following the previous vitrectomy.Standard MH repair procedures were administered in all cases,involving the manipulation and aspiration of the hole margin through the application of water flow with a soft-tip flute needle.A comprehensive assessment was conducted for each case before and after surgery,and optical coherence tomography(OCT)images were captured at every follow-up point.●RESULTS:The mean preoperative aperture diameter was 747±156μm(range 611-1180μm),with a mean base diameter of 1390±435μm(range 578-2220μm).Following surgery,all cases achieved complete anatomical closure of MH,with 13 cases(76.5%)exhibiting type 1 closure and 4 cases(23.5%)demonstrating type 2 closure.No significant differences were observed in the preoperative OCT variables between the two closure types.Eyes with type 1 closure showed a significantly improved visual acuity(0.70±0.10,range 0.50-0.80)compared to those with type 2 closure(0.90±0.12,range 0.80-1.00,P=0.014).●CONCLUSION:The MH hydromassage technique demonstrates promising results,achieving acceptable closure rates in cases of large or persistent MH.This technique may serve as an effective adjunctive maneuver during challenging MH surgery.

Simple Proofs of Upper and Lower Envelopes of Van Der Pauw’s Equation for Hall-Plates with an Insulated Hole and Four Peripheral Point-Contacts

For plane singly-connected domains with insulating boundary and four point-sized contacts, C0 …C3, van der Pauw derived a famous equation relating the two trans-resistances R01,23, R12,30 with the sheet resistance without any other parameters. If the domain has one hole van der Pauw’s equation becomes an inequality with upper and lower bounds, the envelopes. This was conjectured by Szymański et al. in 2013, and only recently it was proven by Miyoshi et al. with elaborate mathematical tools. The present article gives new proofs closer to physical intuition and partly with simpler mathematics. It relies heavily on conformal transformation and it expresses for the first time the trans-resistances and the lower envelope in terms of Jacobi functions, elliptic integrals, and the modular lambda elliptic function. New simple formulae for the asymptotic limit of a very large hole are also given.

Inverted Internal Limiting Membrane Flap Technique for Repair of Large Macular Holes： A Short-term Follow-up of Anatomical and Functional Outcomes

Background：Inverted internal limiting membrane （ILM） flap technique has recently been reported in a limited number of studies as an effective surgical technique for the management of large macular holes （MHs） with fair MH closure rates as well as gains in visual acuity.In the current study,longitudinal changes in multi-focal electroretinogram （mfERG） responses,best-corrected visual acuity （BCVA） and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography （SD-OCT） were evaluated in eyes with large MHs managed by this technique.Methods：A prospective noncontrolled interventional study of eight patients （eight eyes） with large MHs （minimum diameter 〉400 μm） was conducted.All MHs were treated with pars plana vitrectomy and indocyanine green-assisted inverted ILM flap technique.SD-OCT images were used to assess the anatomical outcomes of surgery while BCVA and mfERG were used to evaluate the functional outcomes during a 3-month follow-up.Results：All patients underwent successful intended manipulation and translocation of the ILM flap without flap dislocation and achieved complete anatomical closure.Partial microstructural reconstruction,demonstrated on SD-OCT as restoration of the external limiting membrane and the ellipsoid zone,was observed in all cases as early as 1 month after surgery.Functionally,as compared to baseline,all patients showed improvements in BCVA and all but one in mfERG response during follow-up.However,Pearson＇s test revealed no significant correlations between BCVA and mfERG responses of the fovea and of the macular area at each evaluation time point.Conclusions：Inverted ILM flap technique appeares to be a safe and effective approach for the management of large idiopathic MHs with favorable short-term anatomical and functional results.Postoperative reconstruction of the microstructure generally shows good consistency with improvements in both BCVA and mfERG response,of which the latter might be a supplement for the former in postoperative functional follow-up.