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Updated: Feb 3, 2026

Integrated Photoacoustic Ophthalmoscopy and Spectral-domain Optical Coherence Tomography
Published on: January 15, 2013
[Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomographic Findings in Systemic Lupus erythematosus in Patients Treated with
Nina Kosic Knez1, Katarina Šiško1,2, Iztok Holc2,3
1Department of Ophthalmology, University Clinical Centre Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia.
Purpose:
To recognise possible retinal changes in patients with SLE treated with chloroquine phosphate, as depending on the duration of treatment.
Methods:
The study included 41 patients (82 eyes) who received treatment for SLE with chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine phosphate and had not previously been diagnosed with retinal pathology. Participants were divided into two groups according to the duration of treatment. The first group included 18 patients (36 eyes) treated for up to five years and the second group consisted of 23 patients (46 eyes) treated from five to twenty years. We performed a thorough eye exam, including best-corrected visual acuity, colour vision, visual field examination, dilated fundus examination, autofluorescence imaging, color fundus photography and spectral domain optical coherence tomography.
Results:
Mean duration of treatment in the first group was 2.79 ± 1.37 years, and in the second group 8.67 ± 2.26 years. The difference in central retinal thickness between the two groups was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Comparison of parafoveal thickness between the two groups was statistically non-significant in all quadrants (p > 0.05). Visual field examination, autofluorescence images and colour fundus photographs were without noteworthy pathology.
Conclusion:
Our results indicate that there were no significant changes in retinal structure between groups that depended on the duration of treatment. Hence, we can conclude that a yearly follow-up of these patients is sufficient to discover possible preclinical maculopathy.
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