Comparison of visual prognoses between natural course of simple hemorrhage and choroidal neovascularization treated with intravitreal bevacizumab in highly myopic eyes: a 1-year follow-up.

PURPOSE: To compare the long-term outcomes of simple hemorrhage (SH) without any treatments and myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV) treated with intravitreal bevacizumab in highly myopic eyes.

METHODS: Twenty eyes (17 patients) with SH and 28 eyes (27 patients) with mCNV were included. We retrospectively evaluated the refractive error, axial length, age, best-corrected visual acuity, and the integrity of photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment junction and compared the two groups.

RESULTS: The mean patient age was 41.6 ± 11.2 years, the mean refractive error -12.7 ± 3.57 diopters, and the mean axial length was 29.64 ± 1.42 mm. Patients in the SH group were significantly (P < 0.001) younger than those in the mCNV group (34.8 vs. 46.5 years, respectively). There were no significant differences in other parameters between the groups. Compared with baseline, the best-corrected visual acuity improved significantly (P < 0.01) at 12 months in both groups. The change in vision at 12 months in the SH group was significantly (P < 0.05) better than that in the mCNV group, although there were no significant differences at 3 months or 6 months. The final integrity of photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment junction was significantly associated with the final best-corrected visual acuity (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Eyes with SH had a more favorable visual prognosis compared with eyes with mCNV treated with intravitreal bevacizumab. The differential diagnosis of these pathologies is important.