Macular hole and submacular hemorrhage secondary to retinal arterial macroaneurysm – successfully treated with a novel surgical technique

Abstract

Purpose: To present a 65-year-old patient with macular hole (MH) and submacular hemorrhage (SMH) secondary to a ruptured retinal arterial macroaneurysm (RAM) which was successfully treated with a novel surgical technique.Patient: A 65-year-old woman presented with a 1-week history of sudden-onset visual loss in her right eye. Her best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was hand motion in the right eye. Her fundus examination revealed intraretinal and massive subretinal hemorrhage with macular involvement. An MH with an approximate diameter of 600 microns was also noted. The patient was treated by a standard pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) and internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling, followed by 10 µg recombinant tissue plasminogen activator injection into the submacular space via the MH with a 25-gauge vitrectomy probe. BCVA of the patient increased to 20/320 and 20/60, one and four weeks after surgery, respectively. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) images confirmed the complete anatomical closure of the MH and the restoration of the outer retinal layers such as the external limiting membrane and the ellipsoid zone.Conclusion: This case report expands our knowledge about the management of MH in combination with SMH after a ruptured RAM. We suggest the use of a vitrectomy probe and MH for subretinal recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) injection.

Keywords

• submacular hemorrhage
• macular hole
• recombinant tissue plasminogen activator
• pars plana vitrectomy