Review of the ophthalmic symptoms of preeclampsia

Abstract

Preeclampsia is a severe, sometimes life-threatening complication of pathological pregnancies. The incidence of neonatal morbidity and mortality is usually increased. Besides general maternal symptoms like hemolysis, low platelet number, elevated liver enzyme level, proteinuria, cardiovascular problems, neurological and cerebral complications, serious ophthalmic symptoms might occur. These include focal or generalized narrowing of the arterioles, flame-shaped retinal haemorrhages, and cotton-wool spots. Rarely, disc swelling, exudative retinal detachment, cystoid macular edema, bilateral occipital lobe infarction, or cortical blindness might occur. In this article, I review the retinal and macular changes, retinal detachment, and the cause of blindness. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) allows ophthalmologists to diagnose early and late changes in choroid vasculature and circulation, and consequent retinal morphological changes. Spectral-domain OCT and enhanced depth imaging provide important insight and possible prognosis for the course of the disease. After termination of the pathological pregnancy, vision returns to normal in most cases; unfortunately, there are some exceptions.