Combined Surgery of Vitrectomy, Phacoemulsification and Intraocular Lens Implantation in Patients with Vitreous Hemorrhage Caused by Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion Patients

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of vitrectomy, phacoemulsification and posterior intraocular lens implantation in patients with branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) associated with vitreous hemorrhage. METHODS: We performed vitrectomy, phacoemulsification and posterior intraocular lens implantation in 38 patients with BRVO associated with vitreous hemorrhage. The age distribution was 44 to 82 years old (mean 61.8 years old) and the duration of follow up was 6 to 48 months (mean 16.7 months). Patientswere divided into 3 groups according to intraoperative fundus findings. Patients had only vitreous hemorrhage in group 1, vitreous hemorrhage with fibrovascular proliferations in group 2, and vitreous hemorrhage with retinal breaks in group 3. The number of eyes were 27, 8, and 3 respectively. RESULTS: The improvement of visual acuity up to 2 lines on the chart was found in 37 eyes (97.4%) after the surgery and the final visual acuity of 0.5 or better was achieved in 28 eyes (73.7%). Final corrected visual acuity was 0.5 or better in 85.1% in group 1, in 50.0% in group 2 and in 33.3% in group 3. The percentage of final visual acuity of 0.5 or better was statistically higher in group 1 than goup 2 and group 3 (p=0.036). Only one patient who developed retinal detachment had a decrease of final visual acuity. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that combined vitrectomy, phacoemulsification and posterior intraocular lens implantation are relatively effective procedures for patients with BRVO associated with vitreous hemorrhage.