Surgical outcomes of vitrectomy for breakthrough vitreous hemorrhage in eyes with exudative age-related macular degeneration

To report the outcomes of pars plana vitrectomy in cases with breakthrough vitreous hemorrhage (VH) secondary to exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. We also investigated the relationship between the preoperative b-mode ultrasonographic findings and the postoperative visual acuity to determine if the ultrasonographic findings can predict the surgical outcome after pars plana vitrectomy. This was a retrospective, interventional, case series. Twenty eyes of 20 patients were studied. The associations between the pre- and intraoperative factors and the final best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were determined. Recombinant tissue-plasminogen activator (tPA) was used in cases with massive hemorrhagic retinal detachment. Ten eyes with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), two eyes with choroidal neovascularization (CNV), and eight eyes with an unknown type of AMD were studied. The mean BCVA was 0.73 ± 0.57 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) units before developing the VH, 2.25 ± 0.45 logMAR units before the surgery, and 1.52 ± 0.87 logMAR units after the surgery. The BCVA improved significantly after the surgery (P = 0.004) but was significantly worse than that before developing the VH (P = 0.012). The cases of PCV had better final BCVA than cases of CNV (P = 0.043, Mann–Whitney test). The preoperative presence of a subretinal elevation at the macula detected by ultrasonography was significantly associated with a poorer final BCVA (P = 0.031). Vitrectomy significantly improved visual function in the eyes with VH associated with exudative AMD. The eyes with PCV and no macular subretinal elevation on ultrasonography had a better visual prognosis.