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Study: Laser treatment of ROP has high unfavorable outcome rate
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NEW ORLEANS — Laser treatment demonstrated a high unfavorable outcome rate in eyes with posterior zone 1 retinopathy of prematurity, a poster presentation said here.
The retrospective chart review included 46 eyes of 23 infants. Mean birth weight was 2.543 lbs, and mean gestational age was 28.65 weeks.
Of the 46 eyes, 29 had flat neovascularization, 10 had nasal tractional retinal detachment, five had hybrid ROP and two had stage 3 ROP, according to the poster at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.
Despite timely confluent laser treatment, 67.3% of eyes had an unfavorable structural outcome.
“The standard of care at this time [for ROP] is laser treatment. We found that with laser treatment we are getting 70% of these babies not responding, having an unfavorable outcome,” Mangat R. Dogra, MBBS, the presenting author of the study, said in an interview with Ocular Surgery News. “We have to look at this more carefully, as well as do something. Perhaps we can use some kind of a combined approach right in the beginning. We need to do something to bring down the rate from 70% to something reasonable like 20% to 30% unfavorable outcome.”
Anti-VEGFs and/or early vitreous surgeries with laser may be possible alternative treatments that could result in better outcomes, the poster said.
Disclosure: Dogra has no relevant financial disclosures.