This is a prospective observational case series study conducted according to the tenets of Declaration of Helsinki. All patients gave informed consent to being imaged and for the collected data to be used for publication. The Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center Ethics Committee did not require for this study to undergo Internal Review Board (IRB) approval as all the tests carried out were part of the routine care of patients.
This study included patients who were diagnosed as fullthickness MH and referred to Dr. Lin Lu from January 2009 to December 2013 at the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center. Patients suffering from MH secondary to uveitis, trauma, and high myopia or associated with a simultaneous retinal detachment (RD) were excluded. All the patients received a general ophthalmologic examination. The status of macular was confirmed by optical coherence tomography (OCT). MH were graded using the Gass classification(²⁾. The fundus was carefully inspected by a three-minor Goldmann lens with a dilated pupil. The RB and/or lattice degeneration were recorded.
Numerical computations were per formed using a spreadsheet package (Excel 2010; Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA). Statistical comparison of categorical findings was performed using the Chi-square test. Statistical signifi cance was set as P<0.05.

No previous study on the relationship between RB/lattice degeneration and MH has been reported. Few studies mentioned it indirectly and had a few limitations. Guillaubey et al.⁽³⁾ retrospectively analyzed 272 idiopathic MH surgery cases. Only the cases of RB were recorded and the lattice degenerations were not included. No RD  occurred in patients presenting with an intraoperative (14 eyes) or preoperative (21 eyes) successfully treated RB. They didn’t mention the RB found during the procedure was iatrogenic or not. If the RB found during the procedure were already exist, the RB rate (12.87%) in their cases is similar with ours cases (21/183=11.48%). In another study by Hwang et al.⁽⁴⁾, 235 MH surgery cases were reviewed. Only eight eyes (3.40%) preexisted RB and/or lattice degeneration before the surgery received intraoperative endolaser photocoagulation. They only concerned about the cases which had been treated during the operation and didn’t present the status before the surgery. That’s why the RB and/or lattice degeneration rate seems so low in their series.
The prevalence of lattice degeneration of the retina ranges from 6% to 10.7% in the general populations^(5-7). In the fellow eye of patients with RD the prevalence is estimated to be 35%⁽⁸⁾. This study identified that RB and/or lattice degeneration were involved in almost one third of the full-thickness MH cases. It revealed MH and RB/lattice degeneration might have some pathogenic relationship.
Generally the attachment of the vitreous to the retina is greatest at those sites where the ILM of the retina is the thinnest. These sites include the vitreous base, the major retinal vessels, the optic nerve head, the 1,500-μm-diameter rim surrounding the fovea, and the 500-μm-diameter foveola. Forces generated by movement of the vitreous and the premacular bursa as the eye moves may also play a role in the pathogenesis of posterior vitreous detachment, MH and RB⁽⁹⁾. This theory might explain why the RB and/or lattice degenerations found in our cases were located near or anterior to the equator. The RB/lattice degeneration was involved in the inferior temporal quadrant most often in our cases. A total of 68.63% of the lesions were found between the clock hours of 11 to 1 above, or between 5 and 7 below. These findings are similar to previously reported outcomes^(5-7). The movement of the eyeball contributes to distribution of the lesions.