title: Measurement of choroid thickness in pregnant women using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate choroidal thickness in healthy pregnant women during different trimesters using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  This prospective study included 90 healthy pregnant women in their first, second, or third trimester (groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively) and 30 non-pregnant healthy women (group 4). The age range for all groups was 18-40 years. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography scans were obtained to estimate the average choroidal thickness. Using EDI-OCT, we measured choroidal thickness manually from the outer border of the retinal pigment epithelium to the inner scleral border at the subfovea, 3 mm temporal, and 3 mm nasal to the fovea. Differences among groups were analyzed by one-way ANOVA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found a statistically significant difference between groups 2 and group 4 for subfoveal, temporal, and nasal mean choroidal thickness (p=0.007, p<0.001, p=0.026, respectively). The mean choroidal thickness for group 2 was 395 ± 80 μm, 338 ± 74 μm, and 233 ± 61 μm at the regions subfoveal, temporal, and nasal to the fovea, respectively. In comparison, the mean choroidal thickness for group 4 was 335 ± 86 μm, 274 ± 54 μm, and 200 ± 53 μm at the regions subfoveal, temporal, and nasal to the fovea, respectively. No statistically significant differences were found for choroidal thickness among groups 1-4 (p=0.214, p=0.177, p=0.094, respectively) and between groups 3-4 (p=0.105, p=0.261, p=0.695, respectively) for all measured points.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that choroidal thickening can occur at the regions subfoveal, temporal, and nasal to the fovea in the second trimester.
authors.affiliation: Department of Opthalmology, Konya Training and Research Hospital, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sertan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goktas
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Konya Training and Research Hospital, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basaran
authors.affiliation: Department of Opthalmology, Konya Training and Research Hospital, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yasar
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakarya
authors.affiliation: Department of Opthalmology, Konya Training and Research Hospital, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Muammer
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozcimen
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Konya Training and Research Hospital, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Zehra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kucukaydin
authors.affiliation: Department of Opthalmology, Konya Training and Research Hospital, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Rabia
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sakarya
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Konya Training and Research Hospital, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Basaran
authors.affiliation: Department of Opthalmology, Konya Training and Research Hospital, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Erkan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Erdogan
authors.affiliation: Department of Opthalmology, Konya Training and Research Hospital, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Alpfidan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002829:Choroid / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D009929:Organ Size; D011247:Pregnancy; D011264:Pregnancy Trimesters; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D013997:Time Factors; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult