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The clinical and pathogenic significance of atypical epiretinal tissue in macular hole

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Abstract

With the recent advent of high-resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT), atypical epiretinal tissue (AET), also known as epiretinal proliferation, has been frequently noted in various pathologies. AET presents as premacular tissue with homogenous medium reflectivity over the internal limiting membrane on OCT. Although AET is most frequently associated with a lamellar hole (LH), some cases of macular hole (MH) also accompany AET at the edge of the hole. MH with AET has been reported to have worse clinical and surgical outcomes than MH without AET. The imaging and histopathological findings of AET imply that the development of MH with AET may not have been driven by vitreofoveal traction. Instead, MH with AET might have evolved from LH with AET. This mini-review encompassed relevant studies on MH with AET published to date and explained the clinical, prognostic, and pathogenic significance of AET in MH in detail.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Sungsoon Hwang & Se Woong Kang

  2. Department of Clinical Research Design & Evaluation, Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology (SAIHST), Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Sungsoon Hwang

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Correspondence to Se Woong Kang.

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Hwang, S., Kang, S.W. The clinical and pathogenic significance of atypical epiretinal tissue in macular hole. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 260, 2791–2798 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-022-05750-2

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