Clinical Features of Pregnancy-associated Retinal and Choroidal Diseases Causing Acute Visual Disturbance

PURPOSE: To report clinical features of patients with retinal and choroidal diseases presenting with acute visual disturbance during pregnancy. METHODS: In this retrospective case series, patients who developed acute visual loss during pregnancy (including puerperium) and visited a tertiary hospital from July 2007 to June 2015, were recruited by searching electronic medical records. Patients were categorized according to the cause of visual loss. Clinical features and required diagnostic modalities were analyzed in the retinal and choroidal disease group. RESULTS: Acute visual loss occurred in 147 patients; 49 (38.9%) were classified into the retinal and choroidal group. The diagnoses included central serous chorioretinopathy (22.4%), hypertensive retinopathy with or without pre-eclampsia (22.4%), retinal tear with or without retinal detachment (18.4%), diabetic retinopathy progression (10.2%), Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease (4.1%), retinal artery occlusion (4.1%), multiple evanescent white dot syndrome (4.1%), and others (14.3%). Visual symptoms first appeared at gestational age 25.9 ± 10.3 weeks. The initial best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.27 ± 0.39 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR); the final BCVA after delivery improved to 0.13 ± 0.35 logMAR. Serious visual deterioration (BCVA worth than 20 / 200) developed in two patients. Differential diagnoses were established with characteristic fundus and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography findings in all cases. CONCLUSIONS: In pregnant women with acute visual loss, retinal and choroidal diseases are common and could be vision threatening. Physicians should be aware of pregnancy-associated retinal and choroidal diseases and their clinical features. The differential diagnosis can be established with non-invasive techniques.