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. 2019 Feb 13:2019:6924191.
doi: 10.1155/2019/6924191. eCollection 2019.

Pachychoroid Pigment Epitheliopathy and Choroidal Thickness Changes in Coeliac Disease

Selim Bolukbasi  1 , Burak Erden  1 , Akin Cakir  1 , Alper Halil Bayat  1 , Mustafa Nuri Elcioglu  1 , Serap Yurttaser Ocak  1 , Yasemin Gokden  2 , Mine Adas  2 , Zekiye Nur Asik  2
Affiliations

Pachychoroid Pigment Epitheliopathy and Choroidal Thickness Changes in Coeliac Disease

Selim Bolukbasi et al. J Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate choroidal thickness in patients with coeliac disease (CD) using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and to compare the results to normal eyes.

Methods: Seventy patients with CD and 70 healthy controls were included in this prospective, comparative study. All participants underwent a complete ophthalmologic evaluation and SD-OCT. Subfoveal, nasal (nasal distance to fovea 500 μm, 1000 μm, and 1500 μm), and temporal (temporal distance to fovea 500 μm, 1000 μm, and 1500 μm) choroidal thickness measurements were performed using SD-OCT.

Results: There were no significant differences in sex, ages, and axial lengths between the groups (p=1.0, p=0.601, p=0.314, respectively). The mean choroidal thickness measurements at all predefined measurement point areas were higher in the coeliac group than in the healthy controls (p < 0.001). Of all patients with coeliac disease (70 eyes of 70 patients), 64 eyes (84.2%) had uncomplicated pachychoroid (UCP), one eye had pachychoroid pigment epitheliopathy (PPE), and five eyes in the UCP group had PPE in fellow eyes.

Conclusion: It is probable that systemic inflammation in coeliac patients causes the enlargement of choroidal vessels and increasing choroidal thickness. PPE, which is believed to be the precursor of central serous chorioretinopathy, can be observed in coeliac patients.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A representative enhanced depth imaging (EDI) mode of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) image showing the choroidal thickness measurements of a coeliac patient.
Figure 2
Figure 2
An infrared reflectance image (A) and enhanced depth imaging (EDI) mode of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) image (B) of a 32-year-old female patient with coeliac disease. Slight hyperreflectivity appears on the infrared reflectance image in the parafoveal region (white arrow). In the SD-OCT image, pachyveins (enlargement of Haller's layer) under the retinal pigment epithelium change, and thick choroid (subfoveal choroidal thickness: 495 μm) is seen.
Figure 3
Figure 3
An infrared reflectance image (A) and enhanced depth imaging (EDI) mode of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) image (B) of a 42-year-old male patient with coeliac disease. Irregular hyperreflectivity appears on the infrared reflectance image of the lesion. In the SD-OCT image, pachyveins (enlargement of Haller's layer) under the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) change and thick choroid (subfoveal choroidal thickness: 496 μm) is seen. Choroidal thickness is 483 μm under the RPE changes.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Choroidal thickness measurements. The values above the boxes show statistical significance when comparing the choroidal thickness measurements of the coeliac and control groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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