Massive vitreous hemorrhage and senile macular choroidal degeneration

In the elderly patient with a massive vitreous hemorrhage in one eye and senile macular choroidal degenerative changes in the fellow eye, a hemorrhagic disciform detachment causing this massive vitreous hemorrhage must be considered in the differential diagnosis. Ultrasonography selectively combined with radioactive phosphorus (32P) testing differentiates between a hemorrhagic disciform detachment or disciform scar and a malignant melanoma of the choroid. The ultrasonographic findings of a hemorrhagic disciform detachment may vary, but usually the posterior pole lesion is relatively flat and broad-based with a fairly homogeneous pattern without choroidal excavation. Posterior polar lesions secondary to senile macular choroidal degeneration do not grow. The vitreous hemorrhage clears in about three fourths of the patients, eventually allowing visualization of the posterior pole and ophthalmoscopic confirmation of a disciform scar. Almost one half of the eyes may be expected to lose all light perception because of the development of an initially hemorrhagic retinal detachment.