Study finds wide variation in ROP anesthesia use by U.K. ophthalmologists

The anesthetic methods used for treating infants with retinopathy of prematurity vary considerably among ophthalmologists in the United Kingdom, a survey found.

Chetan Kantibhai Patel, FRCOphth, of Oxford Eye Hospital and colleagues sent a questionnaire to 46 ophthalmologists in the United Kingdom regarding their method of anesthesia for laser treatment of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). There is currently no consensus in the United Kingdom for the optimum anesthetic method for such treatments, the study authors noted.

Thirty ophthalmologists (86%) of 35 respondents reported performing laser treatment for ROP. Of these, 15 ophthalmologists (50%) used general anesthesia in all cases and 11 (37%) used intravenous sedation combined with topical anesthesia, according to the study.

Additionally, one ophthalmologist used oral sedation combined with topical anesthesia, one used rectal chloral hydrate and paracetamol combined with topical anesthesia, one used intravenous ketamine combined with topical anesthesia and one used sub-Tenon's local anesthesia.

No ophthalmologists reported using either subconjunctival or topical anesthetic alone or reported performing laser treatments without using an anesthetic, the authors noted.

The study is published in the August issue of Eye.