Clinical Study of Risk Factors Associated with the Development of Rebleeding After Traumatic Hyphema

ABSTRACT

We reviewed the medical records of 201 patients who were admitted between January 1980 and March 1992 with a diagnosis of traumatic hyphema to define risk factors associated with the development of rebleeding. Rebleeding occurred in 18 patients (9.0%), and took place on day 1 to 6 after injury with a maximum occurrence on day 2. A group of 32 patients who were examined more than 24 hours after injury were found to have a rebleeding rate of 18.8% (six of 32 patients). It was higher than the rebleeding rate (6.8%) in patients examined within 24 hours. When the amount of blood is more than 1/3 of anterior chamber at the time of initial examination, rebleeding was shown to occur more frequently. Children had a rebleeding rate similar to adults, and males showed approximately the same rate of rebleeding compared to females. This review suggests that patients examined more than 24 hours after injury and injured severely represent unique population that deserves special consideration.