A 10-year-old boy presented to a local doctor with a sudden decrease of vision and a central scotoma in the right eye two days after being hit in that eye with a wooden stick. A hemorrhage was found in the fundus at that time, so the patient was referred to our hospital, where a hemorrhage was observed in the fovea (). Corrected visual acuity was 20/70 and intraocular pressure was 12 mmHg OD. Optical coherence tomography scanning of the right eye showed submacular hemorrhage (). We performed paracentesis (0.3 mL) under general anesthesia to reduce the intraocular pressure. Next, we injected tPA (12.5 μg in 0.05 mL) into the vitreous cavity and waited 15 minutes for the hemorrhage to dissolve. We then performed a further paracentesis (0.1 mL), followed by injection of pure sulfur hexafluoride (SF6, 0.3 mL) into the vitreous cavity. After surgery, we instructed the patient to maintain a prone position as much as possible for a week. One day later, the hemorrhage had started to move out of the fovea, revealing a choroidal rupture beneath (). We considered this choroidal rupture to be the cause of the hemorrhage.\nThe macula was not damaged () and visual acuity improved to 20/16 by four months and 20/13 by seven months after the above treatment. The submacular hemorrhage had been successfully displaced out of the fovea. In spite of the remaining choroidal rupture, the patient has not complained of any symptoms, including metamorphopsia, after 3 years of follow-up.
A 15-year-old girl presented with blurred vision after being hit by an elbow on her left eye. Her best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 16/20. On fundus examination, both a choroidal rupture that formed a crescent shape concentric to the optic disc and a subretinal hemorrhage were detected (fig. ). Optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed that the juxtafoveal retinal pigment epithelial layer with Bruch's membrane was disrupted, and the inner segment/outer segment (IS/OS) of the photoreceptor junction and the external limiting membrane (ELM) layer were distorted with suspected pinpoint disruption (fig. ).\nAfter 3 weeks, her visual acuity reduced to counting fingers. Fundus examination revealed that the subretinal hemorrhage had absorbed and the choroidal rupture had expanded. The crescent-shaped window defect including the fovea was observed on fluorescein angiography (FAG) (fig. ). Wider disrupted layers of the RPE, the IS/OS junction, and the ELM at the corresponding area were detected in OCT. When compared with the first medical examination after the injury, the IS/OS junction and the RPE adjacent to the ruptured site were hardly distinguishable, although they were originally clearly observed (fig. ).\nSteroid pulse therapy (methylprednisolone 500 mg intravenous for 3 days and prednisolone 30 mg oral, tapering for 11 days) was started in another hospital, and 3 months after the injury, visual acuity increased to 20/125. Five months later, OCT revealed that the size of the expanded choroidal rupture had reduced, and the adjacent retina had improved sufficiently to distinguish the IS/OS junction and the RPE. However, FAG disclosed a choroidal neovascular membrane originating from the nasal edge of the choroidal rupture (fig. , fig. ). An intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin, 1.25 mg/0.05 ml; Genentech, Inc., San Francisco, Calif., USA) injection was administered, and 1 month later, the patient's BCVA of the left eye had improved to 20/32, and the CNV had shrunk (fig. , fig. ). Also the IS/OS junction and the RPE had improved sufficiently and were able to be distinguished (fig. ).