Pregnancy induces retinal microvascular changes indicating cardio-metabolic stress

•rtx1e is a suitable tool to image microvascular changes during pregnancy.•Physiological pregnancy course shows significant changes in retinal microvasculature.•Changes in microvasculature during physiological pregnancy course appear transient. We performed longitudinal examinations of the arterial...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pregnancy hypertension 2024-03, Vol.35, p.30-31
Main Authors: Dathan-Stumpf, Anne, Stepan, Holger, Valterova, Eva, Jakubicek, Roman, Berbée, Clara, Seidenspinner, Marie-Louise, Kolar, Radim, Rauscher, Franziska G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Blood Pressure
Female
Heart
Humans
Hypertension
Pre-Eclampsia
Pregnancy
Retinal Artery
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Summary:•rtx1e is a suitable tool to image microvascular changes during pregnancy.•Physiological pregnancy course shows significant changes in retinal microvasculature.•Changes in microvasculature during physiological pregnancy course appear transient. We performed longitudinal examinations of the arterial retinal microvasculature using Adaptive Optics Retinal Imaging in a 30-year-old healthy woman with twin pregnancy from the 23rd week of gestation (wog) to three days postpartum. Two blinded graders recorded the average wall-to-lumen ratio (WLR) of the examined retinal artery. There was a significant increase in the mean WLR over the course of pregnancy followed by a decreasing WLR from the 37th wog. The demonstrated changes in WLR may be an expression of vascular remodeling and adaptation to volume load which indicates that pregnancy can be viewed as a cardiovascular stress test.
ISSN:2210-7789
2210-7797
DOI:10.1016/j.preghy.2023.12.004