Dr. Juan Francisco Santamaría, member of the ICR’s Retina and Vitreous Department has published together with Dr. Ignasi Jürgens, medical director of the Institut Català de Retina, the article titled Vitreous hemorrhage due to optic disc macroaneurysm.
The article, published at the french journal Journal Français d’Ophtalmologie, describes the clinical case of a patient with a spontaneous vitreous hemorrhage without apparent reason.
A vitreous hemorrhage is the presence of blood inside a cavity of the eye that, under normal conditions, is filled with a gel called vitreous. When there is blood mixed with the vitreous, this substance loses its transparency, so that light cannot pass through it and the patient suffers a loss of vision.
The objective of the study is based on the specific case of an 88-year-old patient with a history of hypertension, high blood lipid levels and glaucoma , who came to the clinic with a vitreous hemorrhage of unknown origin in her right eye.
After four weeks of observation and using vitreous extraction surgery or vitrectomy , the doctors detected that the reason for the bleeding was a macroaneurysm of the optician’s head or papilla, a very rare cause in this type of eye problem.
Although an optical disc macroaneurysm is not usually the main cause of such bleeding, it should be considered when dealing with elderly patients and with cardiovascular risk factors. The study, therefore, shows this strange reason and recommends some appropriate treatments for these cases.
You can read the full article below.
Vitreous hemorrhage secondary to an optic disc macroaneurysm. J.F. Santamaría Álvarez, I.Jurgens. Journal Français d’Ophtalmologie (Elsevier). November 2020.
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