Abstract
PURPOSE: Dense vitreous hemorrhage is a vision-threatening disease with varied clinical manifestations. Herein, we aimed to evaluate its causes and outcomes in patients without diabetes. METHODS: A retrospective cohort including 60 eyes from 60 patients with an initial diagnosis of nontraumatic fundus-obscuring dense vitreous hemorrhages and without diabetes was recruited. The relevant medical records from January 2013 to December 2019 were reviewed and analyzed. We classified patients into the following four groups, depending on the underlying cause of dense vitreous hemorrhage: eight cases in the age-related macular degeneration group, four cases in the posterior vitreous detachment group, 20 cases in the tear group, and 28 cases in the vascular group. RESULTS: The most common cause of dense vitreous hemorrhage was retinal vascular obstructive disease (46.7%); the age-related macular degeneration group showed the worst prognosis. The extent of best-corrected visual acuity change was significantly better in patients who underwent vitrectomy compared to those receiving conservative treatment; best-corrected visual acuity change (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) was 1.62 ± 0.57 in the surgical group and 1.06 ± 0.88 in the nonsurgical group (Student t-test, p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Retinal vascular disease is the most common cause of vitreous hemorrhages, and surgical treatments have a better visual outcome than nonsurgical treatments.