RUPTURED RETINAL ARTERIAL MACROANEURYSMS ASSOCIATED WITH HEMORRHAGIC BACILLARY LAYER DETACHMENTS.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Bacillary layer detachments (BALAD) are a recently recognized form of retinal detachment involving a splitting of photoreceptors at the inner segment myoid zone, with separation of the external limiting membrane and ellipsoid zone on optical coherence tomography (OCT). A growing number of disease processes are recognized to cause BALAD, and here we present three of the first cases of hemorrhagic retinal artery macroaneurysms that resulted in BALAD.

METHODS

A retrospective review of three patients who presented for acute, painless, monocular vision loss was performed. Multimodal imaging including fundus photography and OCT are included in this analysis.

RESULTS

Three elderly female patients, all with a history of hypertension, presented with ruptured macroaneurysms involving the macula. All three patients had evidence of BALAD on OCT. Various management strategies were used.

CONCLUSION

Hemorrhagic retinal arterial macroaneurysms can be associated with BALAD, observed best on OCT. This is most likely secondary to the rapid accumulation of intraretinal fluid during the hemorrhage, which leads to an avulsion at the inner segment myoid zone-a site of inherent structural weakness in the photoreceptors. Visual recovery may be improved in instances of hemorrhagic macroaneurysms associated with BALAD, similar to other disease entities where BALAD occurs, although further research is needed.