Mortality and Morbidity of Premature Infants with Severe Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) requiring Laser Treatment

AUTHORS: Fazilawati Qamarruddin, Jenniffer Sy , Hilary Whyte , Nasrin N. Tehrani
PRINCIPAL AUTHOR: Nasrin N. Tehrani

INSTITUTION: Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, Department of Neonatology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to describe the characteristics of all extremely low gestational age infants with severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) who underwent laser treatment and to investigate if there is a temporal link between laser treatment, systemic deterioration and demise.

METHODS: A retrospective chart review of all infants with gestational age (GA) 30 weeks and birth weight (BW) < 1500 g with severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) who underwent laser photocoagulation between January 2004 till March 2009.

RESULTS: The study population consisted of 122 infants. GA and BW of studied infants were 24.80 ± 1.29 weeks (mean ± SD) and 722.36 ± 135.42 g respectively. 214 eyes developed type I and 28 eyes developed type II ROP. Retinal detachment occurred in 3.31% (8/242) of the study population. The mean length of ventilation for the babies who had died and the babies who had survived was 101.25 ± 49.21 and 43.72 ± 26.32 respectively.

CONCLUSION: All the babies were extremely low gestational age (ELGA) infants. Mortality was associated with long duration of ventilation and presence of white matter damage. There is no temporal link between laser and early mortality in these babies.
The demise of these babies was due to the neonatal risk factors and the systemic complications that these babies had developed prior to laser treatment.