80 Years of vision: preventing blindness from retinopathy of prematurity

Abstract

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is one of the leading yet preventable causes of childhood blindness worldwide. The purpose of this review is to provide a practical template for observational and treatment methods in order to reduce the overall incidence of any ROP and to improve both short-term and long-term outcomes once Type 1 ROP (treatable ROP) develops.

Fig. 1. Delayed retinal vascular maturation following anti-VEGF therapy requires surveillance.

Left eye of a child with type 1 ROP who had undergone two anti-VEGF injections at an outside hospital as an infant and did not receive follow-up with fluorescein angiography and laser until 18 months of age, disclosing continued neovascular activity with severe macular distortion. The fellow (right) eye of the child had also received three anti-VEGF injections at an outside hospital and was phthisical.