Relationship Between Macular Retinal Thickness And The Changes Of Multifocal Electroretinogram In Preeclampsia

OBJECTIVE: To compare macular retinal thickness and choroidal thickness among four groups of women: mild preeclampsia, severe preeclampsia, healthy pregnant and non-pregnant, then to evaluate the relationship between macular retinal thickness and the changes of multifocal electroretinogram.METHODS: A total of 70 patients(140 eyes) were collected in preeclampsia group. According to the international standard of diagnose, these cases were divided into two subgroups: 34 patients(68 eyes) of mild preeclampsia and 36 patients(72 eyes) of severe preeclampsia. Besides there were 40 cases(80 eyes) of healthy pregnant and 40 cases(80 eyes) of non-pregnant(reference group). The macular retinal thickness and choroidal thickness were measured by using enhanced depth imaging spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, as well as retinal function was recorded by multifocal electroretinogram. The data were processed with software SPSS.RESULTS: The mean macular retinal thickness of mild preeclampsia, severe preeclampsia,healthy pregnant and non-pregnant groups were 190.75± 28.04μm, 239.90± 60.27μm, 173.41±15.98μm, and 177.93± 19.34μm respectively. The mean macular choroidal thickness of the four groups were 328.00± 32.56μm, 387.48± 31.56μm, 359.73± 40.25μm, and 296.32± 53.11μm respectively. The mean retinal thickness was thicker in severe preeclampsia group than other groups(P﹤0.05), whereas no significant difference was seen among other groups(P﹥0.05). In the severe preeclampsia group, the mean choroidal thickness was the thickest(P ﹤ 0.05). The mean choroidal thickness was thicker in mild preeclampsia group than non-pregnant group(P﹤0.05), but thinner than healthy pregnant group(P﹤0.05). The response densities of 1-2 rings in mild preeclampsia group and 1-5 rings in severe preeclampsia group were significant lower than those in healthy pregnant and non-pregnant groups(P﹤0.05), whereas no significant difference was seen between healthy pregnant group and non-pregnant group(P ﹥ 0.05). The response densities of 1-2 rings in severe preeclampsia group were significant lower than those in mild preeclampsia group(P﹤0.05). The retinal thickness showed negative correlation with the changes of multifocal electroretinogram(P﹤0.05).CONCLUSION: It was almost the same degree of the changes of retinal function and morphology in preeclampsia, however the changes of retinal function were earlier than morphology, with which the choroidal thickness varied. Therefore we consider that the choroidal thickness could serve as new objective indicators of the degree of preeclampsia.