Images in Clinical Medicine

Choroidal Ischemia in Preeclampsia

Dennis S.C. Lam, F.R.C.S., F.R.C.Ophth., and Wai-man Chan, M.B., B.S., F.R.C.S.

N Engl J Med 2001; 344:739March 8, 2001

Slide

Article

Figure 1 A 27-year-old woman was hospitalized during her first pregnancy because of preeclampsia at 38 weeks of gestation. Her blood pressure was 160/100 mm Hg, and she had ankle edema and proteinuria. Oliguria soon developed, and a cesarean section was performed. Blurring of the vision in both eyes developed one day later. The visual acuity was 20/30 in each eye. The pupils were equal and responsive. Ophthalmoscopy revealed scattered, yellowish, opaque lesions of the retinal pigment epithelium deep within the retina of both eyes, predominantly in the peripapillary regions (arrows in Panel A). The optic disks and retinal vessels appeared to be normal. Fluorescein angiograms showed patchy, delayed filling of the choriocapillaris during both the early phase and the mid-phase. Areas of intense hyperfluorescence, which were the result of the pooling of fluorescein dye, were seen in the late phase at the level of the retinal pigment epithelium (Panel B). One week after the onset of symptoms, most of the lesions had resolved and the patient's vision had returned to normal.

Dennis S.C. Lam, F.R.C.S., F.R.C.Ophth.
Wai-man Chan, M.B., B.S., F.R.C.S.
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Citing Articles (1)