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Wide-based foveal pit: a predisposition to idiopathic epiretinal membrane

  • Retinal Disorders
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

To report the anatomical characteristics of wide-based foveal pit and its possible associations with macular diseases.

Methods

Wide-based foveal pit was defined as a foveal base width (FBW) larger than the mean value plus one standard deviation of the normal population. Eyes with a wide-based foveal pit were retrospectively collected as the study group, and age- and sex-matched subjects with a normal FBW were recruited as the control group. FBW, area of foveal avascular zone (FAZ), and retinal artery trajectory (RAT) were compared between the two groups. The characteristics of the fellow eyes in the study group were also described.

Results

Fifty-two eyes from 52 patients were identified as having a wide-based foveal pit; 43 (82.7%) were female. Both their FBW (474.7 ± 84.6 μm) and area of FAZ (0.50 ± 0.11 mm2) were significantly larger than in the control group (297.6 ± 42.3 μm and 0.29 ± 0.10 mm2, respectively; p < 0.001 for both), and they also had a wider RAT than the control group (p < 0.001). During follow-up, three eyes had developed idiopathic epiretinal membrane. As for their fellow eyes, they either also had a wide-based foveal pit (11 eyes) or had various macular diseases including idiopathic epiretinal membrane (27 eyes), macular hole (5 eyes), and others (16 eyes).

Conclusions

Eyes with a wide-based foveal pit had a large FAZ and a wide RAT, and they might have a predisposition to idiopathic epiretinal membrane formation. Their fellow eyes also had a predisposition to epiretinal membrane and macular hole.

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Data availability

Yi-Ting Hsieh had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. The data can be made available upon formal request.

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Code availability

ImageJ (version 1.47, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA; available at: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/) was used for image analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, National Taiwan University Hospital, 7 Zhongshan S. Rd., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei, 10002, Taiwan

    I-Hsin Ma, Chung-May Yang & Yi-Ting Hsieh

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, National Taiwan University Biomedical Park Hospital, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    I-Hsin Ma

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chung-May Yang

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  1. I-Hsin Ma
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by I-Hsin Ma and Yi-Ting Hsieh. The first draft of the manuscript was written by I-Hsin Ma and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yi-Ting Hsieh.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee and Institutional Review Board of National Taiwan University Hospital (No.: 201908068RINC) and adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent is waived due to the retrospective nature of the study and no identifiable details were present.

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Informed consent is waived due to the retrospective nature of the study and no identifiable details were present.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Ma, IH., Yang, CM. & Hsieh, YT. Wide-based foveal pit: a predisposition to idiopathic epiretinal membrane. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 259, 2095–2102 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-021-05092-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-021-05092-5

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