[Clinical and pathological observation of seven cases of spontaneous sub-retinal hemorrhage]

To improve pathological understanding of massive sub-retinal hemorrhage.

Retrospective case series study. The clinical and pathological data of 7 cases of massive sub-retinal hemorrhage which were examined in the Pathological Department of Tianjin Eye Hospital from May 1988 to April 2012 were collected. The serial section of eyeball specimens were made with HE and PAS staining. The pathological section were reviewed under the light microscope. Analysis were made again combining with patients' clinical history, imaging findings and the pathological features.

In 7 patients, 6 patients were male, 1 patient was female. The age range was from 60 to 82 years old and the average age was 71.7 years old. Four cases were on the right eye and 3 cases were on the left eye. The main clinical feature was sudden loss of vision and 2 cases had acute glaucoma symptoms. Ultrasound examination showed choroidal tumor in 6 cases and retinal detachment with vitreous hemorrhage in one case. The color Doppler ultrasound examination demonstrated choroidal substantive occupying lesion in 3 cases and two of them were detected with blood flow signal. The MRI were examined in 3 cases which showed iso-high signal in T1W1 and iso-low signal in T2W1 suggesting the choroidal melanoma in 2 cases and sub-retinal hemorrhage in 1 case. Six cases were diagnosed clinically as choroidal tumor or melanoma and 1 case was diagnosed as acute angle-closure glaucoma. The enucleation were performed in 7 cases. In these cases, 6 cases were diagnosed pathologically as vitreous hemorrhage, hemorrhagic RPE detachment and massive subretinal hemorrhage. The related choroidal lesions included soft drusen of Bruch membrane in 3 cases, choriocapillaris wall degeneration in 2 cases, fibrovascular membrane formation under RPE in 2 cases, choroidal chronic non-granulomatous inflammation in 4 cases, choroidal vessels wall thickening and sclerosis in 2 cases and choroidal vessels anomaly in one case. The secondary angle-closure glaucoma or angle-open glaucoma were accompanied respectively in 2 cases. Another case of 7 cases was diagnosed pathologically as the rupture of retinal macroaneurysm with massive sub-retinal hemorrhage.

Massive sub-retinal hemorrhage liked to occur in the elderly male patients. The main manifestations were sudden visual loss. A small number of patients had symptoms of acute glaucoma. Ophthalmic ultrasound and imaging characteristics were usually similar to the choroidal substantive neoplasm and were easily misdiagnosed as choroidal melanoma. Pathological examination revealed that the main reasons of massive hemorrhage were from the hemorrhagic RPE detachment and the rupture of retinal macroaneurysm.