Retinopathy of Prematurity: AIIMS, New Delhi Experience

Abstract

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of potentially avoidable childhood blindness worldwide. With improvement in neonatal care, more preterm infants are surviving with a resultant increase in the number of ROP cases. In low-middle income countries, the disease epidemiology is characterized by the occurrence of ROP at higher birthweight in premature babies with greater severity at presentation. In this article, we describe the ROP screening and management program at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi that has evolved over last three decades. The AIIMS model demonstrates that with high-quality perinatal - neonatal care and a stable ROP program, severe ROP is a preventable disease in bigger preterm neonates (28 weeks or higher gestation) and largely remains a disease of extremely low gestational age babies- a phenomenon similar to that noted in high-income countries.