Purpose: To study the pathomorphology of subretinal hemorrhage (SRH) seen in eyes with branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) and its association with visual prognosis.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 42 consecutive patients (42 eyes) with BRVO that affected the fovea. Retinal structural changes were examined by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).
Results: On SD-OCT sections, serous retinal detachment was seen at the fovea in 35 eyes, 18 of which accompanied foveal SRH. While initial detection of foveal SRH had no correlation with initial visual acuity (VA), it was correlated with poorer final VA (r = 0.361, P = 0.019). Our patients were classified into two groups by the initial detection of foveal SRH, and initial VA was not different between these two groups. At the final examination, damaged lengths in the foveal photoreceptor layer were significantly longer in the SRH-positive group than those in the SRH-negative group (P = 0.004), and final VA in the SRH-positive group was significantly worse than that in the SRH-negative group (P = 0.019).
Conclusion: Foveal SRH is not an uncommon feature in BRVO and may cause subsequent damage to the foveal photoreceptor layer, resulting in poor visual function.