Hemorrhagic Retinal Detachment Treated by Drainage Sclerotomy Combined with Subretinal and Submacular Tissue Plasminogen Activator.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of a new drainage procedure for treating subretinal hemorrhage (SRH) in hemorrhagic retinal detachment (RD) in patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).

Methods: Forty-three eyes with hemorrhagic RD attributable to PCV underwent vitrectomy. External drainage via sclerotomy was performed in 25 eyes and internal drainage via retinotomy was performed in 18 eyes, respectively. Based on different surgical techniques, the external drainage group was divided into simple external drainage subgroup (10 eyes), external drainage combined with intravitreal injections of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) subgroup (7 eyes), and external drainage combined with subretinal and/or submacular injections of tPA subgroup (8 eyes). The internal drainage group was divided into small retinotomy subgroup (7 eyes) and large retinotomy subgroup (11 eyes). The anatomic reattachment of the retina and postoperative complications were compared between different groups and subgroups.

Results: The external drainage technique had shorter mean operation time, higher retinal reattachment rate, and fewer postoperative complications rate compared to the internal drainage procedure. The subfoveal hemorrhage subsided significantly sooner in the large retinotomy subgroup and external drainage combined with subretinal and/or submacular injections of tPA subgroup compared to the small retinotomy subgroup and the external drainage without tPA group (p < 0.05). The small retinotomy subgroup had higher rates of hemorrhage and elevated IOP compared to other subgroups during the first week of the postoperative period (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Our results suggest that external drainage of SRH combined with subretinal and/or submacular injections of tPA can make the operation simpler, shorten the operation time, reduce the postoperative complications with rapid regression of subfoveal hemorrhage, resulting in an effective and safe therapeutic strategy for treating hemorrhagic RD.