ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of Salvia miltiorrhiza Injection (SMI) in treating traumatic hyphema (TH) and the opportune time for its application.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A retrospective study was conducted in 174 patients with TH (all with a single eye wounded), of whom 92 patients were treated with dicynone and 82 with SMI, and their status of recurrent or aggravated hemorrhage within 5 days after trauma were analyzed. Further, a prospective study was conducted in 76 TH patients (all with a single eye wounded), who were treated with dicynone though they had hyphema 5 days after treatment. After the dicynone medication was discontinued, 39 of them were treated with SI, but 37 were not. The status of hyphema absorption was observed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The retrospective study showed that the number of cases with recurrent or aggravated bleeding in the SMI-treatment group was much more than that in the dicynonetreated group (Z=-2.531, P=0.011). On the other hand, the prospective study showed that the status of hyphema absorption among the SMI-treated patients was significantly better than in those untreated with SMI (Z=-2.642, P=0.008).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>SMI shows an effect of promoting the absorption of TH, and SMI treatment is worthy of being spread in clinical practice. For safety considerations, it is suitable to apply the treatment 5 days after trauma.</p>