Evaluation of the optic nerve using strain and shear-wave elastography in pre-eclampsia

Aim: To investigate the utility of strain elastography and shear-wave elastography for assessing optic nerve involvement in pre-eclampsia.

Material and methods: A total of 120 eyes were evaluated in 60 cases consisting of 30 participants in the pre-eclamptic and 30 participants in the non-pre-eclamptic pregnant patient group. The findings of strain and shear-wave elastography, grey-scale sonography, and optical coherence tomography were compared between the groups.

Results: There was a statistically significant difference for the average shear-wave elastography values between groups (17.6±4.1 and 9.4±2 kPa, p<0.01). The analysis of the strain elastography types also revealed a statistically significant difference between the groups (p<0.01). A statistically significant difference was found for the average values of the optic nerve sheath diameter between the two groups (p<0.05). A statistically significant difference was found in the average value of the superior quadrant of the retina nerve fibre layer between the groups in optical coherence tomography analysis (p=0.04). The peripapillary choroidal thickness values of pre-eclamptic pregnant women were higher than that of non-pre-eclamptic pregnant women, but the difference was not significant (p>0.05).

Conclusion: Stiffness of the optic nerve was greater in patients with pre-eclampsia in the study. Elasticity changes in the optic nerve may be generally attributed to microvascular and biomechanical changes secondary to increased hypertension in pre-eclamptic patients. Elastography could be used as assistive diagnostic techniques to evaluate the optic nerve structure changes in pre-eclampsia.