Treatment of retinopathy of prematurity

Abstract

Retinopathy of prematurity is a potentially blinding disorder of premature infants. Retinal ablation of the avascular retina originally described using cryotherapy but now most commonly undertaken with laser photocoagulation, reduces the unfavourable structural outcomes and improves the functional visual acuity outcome. The CRYO-ROP study showed the long-term benefit of treatment of threshold disease compared with no treatment, however even with cryoablation 44.4% of treated eyes had a visual acuity of 6/60 or worse at 10 year follow-up. The ETROP study of earlier treatment for high-risk pre-threshold disease, rather than treatment at threshold, has shown that pre-threshold treatment of type 1 disease produces a significantly improved outcome. Despite treatment some infants develop retinal detachment for which various surgical treatments have been described, although not always with a good functional outcome. Future treatment modalities may include the use of anti-VEGF therapies.