Correlation of Fundus Autofluorescence of the Macula with Visual Outcome after Successful Repair of Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment

Abstract

Background: Successful reattachment of the macula after RD is often associated with incomplete visual recovery. Even with a normal-appearing macula on examination, patients often experience visual impairment. Fundus autfluorescence has been used to investigate the morphological and functional changes occurring after RD repair following vitrectomy. Aim of the Work: To investigate the structure-function relationship of the macula, by correlating fundus autofluorescence and visual acuity following successful repair of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Material and Methods: Forty-five eyes underwent surgical repair of RRD followed by FAF imaging one and three months post-operative. FAF findings were correlated with postoperative BCVA. Results: Forty-five eyes achieved complete post-operative reattachment with 95.6% SOSR. Mean preoperative logMAR visual acuity showed significant difference with mean postoperative logMAR BCVA (p 0.001). The values of BCVA showed significant difference between eyes showing hyperautofluorescence on FAF imaging and eyes not showing hyperautofluorescence (p=0.015). Conclusion: Fundus autofluorescence is a recent noninvasive imaging modality that evaluates the function and health of the photoreceptor and the RPE layers showing great advantage in analyzing the macular function abnormality.