VITREOUS HEMORRHAGE AND OTHER OCULAR COMPLICATIONS OF A PERSISTENT HYALOID ARTERY

Purpose: To report ocular complications of a persistent hyaloid artery . Methods: We studied eight patients with persistent hyaloid artery. R esults: Seven patients showed strabismus and very low visual acuity (l ess than or equal to 0.12) of one eye. Despite correction of refractiv e errors, cataract surgery and occlusion therapy for amblyopia, visual acuity had not improved in these cases. Four patients showed nystagmu s. Four had progression of unilateral cataract. In two cases, a 24-yea r-old woman and a 4-months-old boy, a vitreous haemorrhage had occurre d due to rupture of a hyaloid artery, in the woman's case probably due to a spontaneous posterior vitreous detachment. Conclusion: A persist ent hyaloid artery may be associated with strabismus, cataract, amblyo pia and nystagmus. Despite amblyopia treatment, the prognosis of visua l acuity of the involved eye is unfavourable. A persistent hyaloid art ery may cause vitreous haemorrhage.