Comparative analysis of axial length measurement method for eyes with submacular hemorrhage.

Abstract

Purpose: To identify a method for comparing preoperative axial length (AL) measurements with postoperative AL in submacular hemorrhage (SMH).

Study design: Retrospective.

Methods: This study included 30 patients who underwent vitrectomy for SMH (January 2016-January 2023) with preoperative and postoperative AL data. Preoperative AL was obtained using ultrasonography for the affected eye (aUS-AL) and compared to those measured using optical biometry (OB) for the affected and fellow eyes (aOB-AL and fOB-AL, respectively). Postoperative AL (aPost-AL) was defined as the AL of the affected eye by OB. The absolute differences between the preoperative AL (aUS-AL, aOB-AL, and fOB-AL) and aPost-AL were assessed.

Results: aUS-AL, aOB-AL, and fOB-AL values were 23.50 ± 1.41 mm, 23.32 ± 1.40 mm, and 23.66 ± 1.45 mm, respectively, correlating strongly with aPost-AL (23.54 ± 1.37 mm) (all R > 0.95). fOB-AL exceeded aPost-AL significantly (P = 0.02). In all 30 eyes, absolute differences between preoperative AL and aPost-AL were 0.19 ± 0.18 mm, 0.28 ± 0.32 mm, and 0.21 ± 0.22 mm, respectively, which were not significantly different from each other (all P > 0.05). In nine eyes with SMH height > 1000 μm or unmeasurable, the absolute difference between aOB-AL and aPost-AL (0.42 ± 0.33 mm) exceeded that of aUS-AL and aPost-AL (0.10 ± 0.09 mm) (P = 0.003).

Conclusion: Although aUS-AL, aOB-AL, and fOB-AL correlated well with postoperative AL in patients with SMH, fOB-AL may be measured longer and aOB-AL shorter in some cases. Therefore, aUS-AL may be considered primarily in determining IOL power of cataract surgery performed in combination with SMH displacement.