Revised Indications for the Treatment of Retinopathy of Prematurity

To determine whether earlier treatment using ablation of the avascular retina in high-risk prethreshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) results in improved grating visual acuity and retinal structural outcomes compared with conventional treatment.

Infants with bilateral high-risk prethreshold ROP (n = 317) had one eye randomized to early treatment with the fellow eye managed conventionally (control eye). In asymmetric cases (n = 84), the eye with high-risk prethreshold ROP was randomized to early treatment or conventional management. High risk was determined using a model based on the Multicenter Trial of Cryotherapy for Retinopathy of Prematurity natural history cohort. At a corrected age of 9 months, visual acuity was assessed by masked testers using the Teller acuity card procedure. At corrected ages of 6 and 9 months, eyes were examined for structural outcome. Outcomes for the 2 treatment groups of eyes were compared using chi2 analysis, combining data for bilateral and asymmetric cases.