Abstract:
Background: An eye examination of a pregnant woman is a mandatory phase of her
preparation for delivery, with a special attention given to ophthalmic symptoms and
relevant recommendations for delivery management.
Purpose: To examine spectral domain ocular coherence tomography (SD-OCT) changes
in retinal periphery and to provide grounds for the tactics of preparing a pregnant woman
for delivery by performing preventive peripheral laser photocoagulation (PPLP).
Material and Methods: A 35-year-old myopic woman at 38 weeks of gestation underwent
a routine eye examination (visual acuity assessment, refractometry, tonometry, perimetry,
biomicroscopy, and ophthalmoscopy), ultrasound biometry and SD-OCT (Heidelberg
Engineering).
Results: The patient was diagnosed with mild myopia along with peripheral lattice
degeneration and peripheral cystic degeneration of the retina in both eyes and local
retinal detachment with atrophic retinal breaks in the right eye. The peripheral
vitreoretinal lattice degeneration was arrested and the local retinal detachment was
limited by laser-induced chorioretinal adhesions.
Conclusion: Spectral domain ocular coherence tomography provides an objective
picture of the state of both the macular and the periphery of the retina, and, along
with biomicroscopy and ophthalmoscopy, provides grounds for the tactics of care for
pregnant women for preventing retinal detachment. The outcome of timely preventive
laser treatment allowed us to conclude that the patient had no ocular contraindications
to vaginal delivery.
