N Asal1, C D Sayan2, N B Gökçınar3, M H Şahan4, A Doğan5, M İnal6. 1. Department of Radiology, Kirikkale University Faculty of Medicine, Kirikkale, Turkey. Electronic address: nese_asal@yahoo.com.tr. 2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kirikkale University Faculty of Medicine, Kirikkale, Turkey. 3. Department of Ophthalmology, Kirikkale University Faculty of Medicine, Kirikkale, Turkey. 4. Department of Radiology, Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep, Turkey. 5. Department of Radiology, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras, Turkey. 6. Department of Radiology, Kirikkale University Faculty of Medicine, Kirikkale, Turkey.
Abstract
AIM: To investigate the utility of strain elastography and shear-wave elastography for assessing optic nerve involvement in pre-eclampsia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 120 eyes were evaluated in 60 cases consisting of 30 participants in the pre-eclamptic and 30 participants in the non-pre-eclamptic pregnant patient group. The findings of strain and shear-wave elastography, grey-scale sonography, and optical coherence tomography were compared between the groups. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference for the average shear-wave elastography values between groups (17.6±4.1 and 9.4±2 kPa, p<0.01). The analysis of the strain elastography types also revealed a statistically significant difference between the groups (p<0.01). A statistically significant difference was found for the average values of the optic nerve sheath diameter between the two groups (p<0.05). A statistically significant difference was found in the average value of the superior quadrant of the retina nerve fibre layer between the groups in optical coherence tomography analysis (p=0.04). The peripapillary choroidal thickness values of pre-eclamptic pregnant women were higher than that of non-pre-eclamptic pregnant women, but the difference was not significant (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Stiffness of the optic nerve was greater in patients with pre-eclampsia in the study. Elasticity changes in the optic nerve may be generally attributed to microvascular and biomechanical changes secondary to increased hypertension in pre-eclamptic patients. Elastography could be used as assistive diagnostic techniques to evaluate the optic nerve structure changes in pre-eclampsia.
AIM: To investigate the utility of strain elastography and shear-wave elastography for assessing optic nerve involvement in pre-eclampsia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 120 eyes were evaluated in 60 cases consisting of 30 participants in the pre-eclamptic and 30 participants in the non-pre-eclamptic pregnant patient group. The findings of strain and shear-wave elastography, grey-scale sonography, and optical coherence tomography were compared between the groups. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference for the average shear-wave elastography values between groups (17.6±4.1 and 9.4±2 kPa, p<0.01). The analysis of the strain elastography types also revealed a statistically significant difference between the groups (p<0.01). A statistically significant difference was found for the average values of the optic nerve sheath diameter between the two groups (p<0.05). A statistically significant difference was found in the average value of the superior quadrant of the retina nerve fibre layer between the groups in optical coherence tomography analysis (p=0.04). The peripapillary choroidal thickness values of pre-eclamptic pregnant women were higher than that of non-pre-eclamptic pregnant women, but the difference was not significant (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Stiffness of the optic nerve was greater in patients with pre-eclampsia in the study. Elasticity changes in the optic nerve may be generally attributed to microvascular and biomechanical changes secondary to increased hypertension in pre-eclamptic patients. Elastography could be used as assistive diagnostic techniques to evaluate the optic nerve structure changes in pre-eclampsia.