Risk factors for suprachoroidal hemorrhage associated with glaucoma surgery in children: a case-control study

To assess the risk factors for suprachoroidal hemorrhage (SCH) following glaucoma surgery in pediatric patients at a tertiary eye center.

The medical records of 326 patients (326 eyes) who underwent glaucoma surgery between January 2014, and September 2017 were reviewed retrospectively. Seventeen cases with SCH were compared with 309 controls who underwent uneventful glaucoma surgery during the same period. We documented age, sex, baseline intraocular pressure, glaucoma diagnosis, previous surgery, preoperative axial length, pachymetry, lens status and type of glaucoma surgery performed (whether combined with cataract or other glaucoma procedure or being standalone).

Of the 17 cases of SCH, only a single case occurred intraoperatively; the remainder occurred in the early postoperative period. The most frequent diagnosis was primary congenital glaucoma (PCG), accounting for 10 patients (59%) in cases and 247 (80%) in controls, followed by glaucoma associated with nonacquired ocular anomalies, which accounted for 3 cases (18%) and 22 controls (7%). Aphakia and combined surgeries (in the univariate analysis) were found to be possible risk factors for the development of SCH, with none achieving significance in the multivariable analysis.

In our study cohort, combined surgeries as well aphakia were possible risk factors for SCH.