Drainage of suprachoroidal haemorrhage effective even without vitrectomy

While suprachoroidal haemorrhage (SCH) is a condition known for having generally poor prognoses, SCH drainage, with or without accompanying vitrectomy, seems to help improve outcomes, a recent study has found.

Researchers conducted a retrospective observational study of 20 consecutive patients (mean age 70±19 years) who had undergone SCH drainage: 11 had external drainage alone, while nine received the combination of vitrectomy and drainage. Safety and efficacy outcomes were compared between the two groups.

At baseline, 16 patients had four quadrants of SCH with macular involvement and one patient with three quadrants; three patients had two quadrants of choroidal apposition without macular involvement. Thirty-five percent had vitreous haemorrhage at initial presentation, and six had retinal detachment.

In the overall cohort, researchers reported significant improvement in best-corrected visual acuity, dropping from 2.22±0.26 logMAR units at baseline to 1.42±1.02 logMAR units at the final follow-up (p=0.002). This improvement occurred to a significantly greater degree in the drainage alone group (1.18±0.89 vs 0.32±0.9 logMAR units; p=0.047).

On the other hand, functional success, which was recorded in nine and six patients in the drainage alone and combination groups, respectively, was not significantly different between arms (p=0.44). The same was true for anatomical failure (two vs three patients; p=0.44).

“Meticulous planning and choosing the appropriate surgical approach in managing SCH with all its complexities can result in favourable anatomical and functional outcomes in such vision-threatening cases,” the researchers said.