Evaluation of the acute effect of haemodialysis on retina and optic nerve with optical coherence tomography

PURPOSE: The primary objective of haemodialysis (HD) was to correct the composition and volume of body fluids. The aim of this study was to evaluate the acute effect of HD on mean arterial pressure changes and on retina and optic nerve with optical coherence tomography (OCT). METHODS: Fifty-three eyes of 28 patients were enrolled in this study. The patients’ retinal and RNFL thicknesses were measured by OCT and mean arterial pressure alterations were recorded before and immediately after HD session. RESULTS: The results show that while there was a reduction at central foveal thickness and ganglion cell layer thickness, central subfield and RNFL thickness were increased with HD session. But none of them were statistically significant (p = 0.320, p = 0.792, p = 0.744, p = 0.390). The mean arterial pressure of the patients decreased significantly (p < 0.05) but it was not correlated with retinal and RNFL values. CONCLUSION: The changes in retinal and RNFL findings were not significant. But these alterations may effect the long term follow-up of the patients with retinal and optic nerve disease. Therefore it is important to pay attention HD session time for these patients’ measurements.