title: Changes in choroidal thickness during pregnancy detected by enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the choroidal thickness measurements of healthy pregnant women obtained in the first trimester with measurements obtained in the third trimester using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (OCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  54 eyes of 27 healthy pregnant women and 50 eyes of 25 age matched healthy women were enrolled in this observational, cross-sectional study. The pregnant women underwent two OCT scans, one in the first trimester at gestational weeks 6-8, and the other during the third trimester at gestational weeks 32-37; the control group had OCT scanning during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, using the enhanced depth imaging mode. Choroidal thicknesses were measured at the fovea, at three locations nasal, and at three locations temporal to the fovea at 500 μm intervals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The choroidal thickness measurements obtained in the third trimester were significantly decreased in all measured points in both eyes compared to the measurements obtained in the first trimester (p<0.05). At the fovea, the mean (±SD) choroidal thickness measured in the first trimester was 349.22±82.11 μm in the right eyes and 341.30±85.22 μm in the left eyes, which decreased to 333.56±76.61 μm in the right eyes (p=0.014) and 326.93±75.84 μm in the left eyes (p=0.024) in the third trimester. Although not statistically significant, choroidal thicknesses of the control group were less than the choroidal thicknesses of the pregnant women (p>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Choroidal thickness was found to be significantly decreased in healthy pregnant women during the third trimester compared to the first trimester. This finding can provide valuable information when interpreting pregnancy related ocular disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Mevlana University School of Medicine, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Zeynep
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dadaci
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mevlana University School of Medicine, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Husnu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Alptekin
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Mevlana University School of Medicine, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nursen
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oncel Acir
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Mevlana University School of Medicine, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borazan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002829:Choroid / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009929:Organ Size; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Choroid; Imaging; Physiology