Resolution of experimental intravitreal fibrin by tissue plasminogen activator

Intravitreal fibrin clots were produced by intravitreal injection of 0.2 ml of autologous plasma in 62 rabbit eyes. The intravitreal injection of 0.25 micrograms or more of tissue plasminogen activator(tPA) resulted in a total clearing of intravitreal fibrin within one day in all treated eyes. This was significantly faster than in the control eyes, in which complete clearing was not seen until 8 days later. This represents the plateau on the dose-response curve in doses ranging from 0.25 to 200 micrograms. With light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, retinal toxicity was demonstrated in eyes enucleated seven days after injection of 25 micrograms or more of tPA. This study demonstrates that tPA was effective and safe at 12.5 micrograms or less in clearing intravitreal fibrin in an experimental model. These results suggest that low dosages of tPA, probably of 3 micrograms or less, may be useful in the treatment of severe postvitrectomy fibrin formation seen clinically.

Treatment of experimental vitreous hemorrhage with tissue plasminogen activator

Tissue plasminogen activator(tPA) is a fibrin-specific fibrinolytic agent that has recently been shown to be effective in accelerating the clearance of hyphema. Intravitreal injection of tPA can promote rapid lysis of experimental intravitreal fibrin clots. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of intravitreal tPA injection for the treatment of vitreous hemorrhage in normal phakic non-vitrectomized rabbit eyes. Vitreous hemorrhages were produced by intravitreal injections of 0.05 ml of autologous whole blood in 25 rabbit eyes with intact vitreous. The injection of 25 or 100 micrograms of tPA in 15 eyes resulted in the clearance of vitreous hemorrhage in 99 +/- 19 or 34 +/- 6.5 days, respectively. This was significantly faster than in the control eyes in which the clearance was not seen until 131 +/- 17 days later. No tractional retinal detachment was observed.