Posterior segment optical coherence tomography findings in patients with COVID-19

Abstract

Abstract: Purpose: COVID – 19 which is still the leading health problem in the world, is not yet fully understood, therefore the study aims to investigate the posterior segment of the eye in patients with COVID – 19 using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Materials and Methods: The present study was designed prospective and cross-sectional. Patients with a positive test result of COVID – 19 and healthy controls who were older than 18 years were included in the study. Excluded from the study were the patients with any systemic comorbidity and ocular disease. The demographic and clinical data, including ocular findings and the OCT data, including hyper-reflective (HR) lesions, retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), ganglion cell complex (GCC), and macular thicknesses (MT) were recorded as outcomes and analyzed. Results: Twenty patients with SARS-CoV-2 and 20 healthy subjects were included in this study. There was no difference between COVID -19 patients and healthy controls in terms of the RNFL, GCC, and macular thicknesses (P > 0.05). HR lesions were detected in 18(45%) eyes of 9(45%) patients with COVID – 19 and 15(37,5%) eyes of 8(40%) healthy subjects’ retinae with no significant difference between groups (P = 0.165). Conclusions: Hyper-reflective lesions could only be retinal vessels' tangential cuts seen in OCT B-Scans. There was not enough data that could indicate posterior segment involvement of COVID – 19.