To evaluate the relationship between postoperative optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings and visual acuity in patients who underwent vitrectomy for macular hemorrhage related to the rupture of a retinal artery macroaneurysm.

A retrospective case review was conducted for patients who underwent vitrectomy for macular hemorrhage caused by a retinal arterial macroaneurysm. The relationship between postoperative OCT findings and visual acuity was analyzed.

This study included 12 patients whose preoperative mean best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) (logMAR) was 1.7±0.8 and whose mean final BCVA was 0.6±0.5. These values were statistically different ( p =0.004). Mean foveal thickness by OCT was 437.5±161.5 µm at the preoperative period and 252.8±84.9 µm three months postoperative, and this difference was statistically significant ( p =0.017). As the foveal thickness decreased after removal of the remnant organized retinal hemorrhage in the postoperative period, BCVA improved at the final follow-up ( p =0.048). According to the postoperative OCT, the photoreceptor disruption group presented a lower BCVA than that of the photoreceptor preservation group at the final follow-up (logMAR: 1.4±0.4 vs. 0.3±0.2, p =0.009).

Photoreceptor preservation as observed by OCT was significantly associated with better visual outcome after vitrectomy in patients with macular hemorrhage caused by rupture of a retinal arterial macroaneurysm.