Changes in choroidal thickness after systemic administration of high-dose corticosteroids: a pilot study.

Purpose: To characterize the effects of corticosteroids on choroidal thickness, we measured the choroid thickness in patients treated systemically with a high-dose corticosteroid.

Methods: A prospective, pilot study was conducted on 20 patients who required high-dose corticosteroid pulse therapy (>500 mg/d). Choroidal thickness was measured at baseline, 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month after corticosteroid administration. Blood pressure was measured four times a day for the first 5 days of steroid treatment.

Results: This study ultimately included 35 eyes from 18 patients. Each patient was treated with high-dose corticosteroid therapy at a concentration of 19.5 ± 4.1 mg per kg body weight for 5.2 ± 1.1 days. Mean subfoveal choroidal thickness at baseline was 259.8 μm (range, 86.4-394.7 μm). Choroidal thickness showed no significant change at 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month after corticosteroid administration (P = 0.197). Mean systolic blood pressure increased by 13 mmHg (P = 0.008), but diastolic pressure did not change (P = 0.117). One patient (5.6%) who had presented with pigment epithelial detatchment (PED) and thick choroid (381.1 μm) developed bilateral focal subretinal fluid during the study and showed central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) with a 13.1% increase in subfoveal choroidal thickness.

Conclusions: No consistent changes in choroidal thickness were observed after systemic high-dose corticosteroid treatment, but one patient with PED and thick choroid showed an increase in choroidal thickening as well as features of CSC. Thus, steroid-induced CSC may be an idiosyncratic response in selected vulnerable individuals rather than a dose-dependent effect.