Tissue plasminogen activator plus gas injection in patients with subretinal hemorrhage caused by age-related macular degeneration: predictive variables for visual outcome

To assess factors predicting final visual outcome after displacement of subretinal hemorrhage (SRH) by intravitreally injected tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) and gas in patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). We evaluated retrospectively the records of 67 patients (32 men, 35 women, mean age 77.2 years) suffering from SRH caused by ARMD who underwent TPA and gas injection between April 1996 and October 2000. Visual acuity (VA; preoperative, 1 week and 3 months postoperative) was analyzed with respect to duration and dimension of bleeding (diameter and thickness) and patient's age. Mean preoperative VA was 0.063, compared with 0.1 at 3 months after injection. Twenty-nine of 47 patients (76%) had an increase in VA 1 week after treatment but 14 of these eyes worsened slightly during follow-up. Visual outcome 3 months after therapy was negatively correlated to thickness ( P