Special Premie Oxygen Targeting (SPOT): a program to decrease the incidence of blindness in infants with retinopathy of prematurity

Abstract

Infants born prematurely have a plethora of medical problems. Some have cerebral palsy, resulting in limited mobility, while others require oxygen, hearing aids, and/or glasses for medical problems. Most of these could have been prevented if preterm birth was avoided, but efforts to curb this have been slow. This article discusses how blindness can be prevented in infants born prematurely by accepting lower oxygen saturations when on oxygen in the intensive care nursery.