Early Laser Treatment of Rush-Type Retinopathy of Prematurity

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: We analyse the effect of the early laser treatment of rush-type ROP. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of the records of 34 eyes of 17 premature infants with rush-type ROP, treated with diode indirect laser within 3 days after diagnosis and followed up for at least a year. RESULTS: Mean gestational age was 28+4 weeks, mean birth weight was 1182.9 gm and mean follow-up was 35.8 months. All patients were diagnosed with rush-type ROP at an average of 34+3 weeks and were treated with diode laser photocoagulation within an average of 1.6 days after diagnosis. The retinopathy regressed after photocoagulation in 25 eyes but regressed in 9 eyes so 8 of these eyes underwent secondary treatment. The outcome was favorable in 27 (79.4%) and unfavorable in 8 (20.6%) of the 34 treated eyes. The frequency of unfavorable outcome increased higher as acute stage at the time of treatment increased in severity. Especially in stage 3 threshold, the unfavorable outcome (33.3%) was significantly higher than that of stage 3 prethreshold (0%). CONCLUSIONS: In rush-type ROP, early treatment may be indicated regardless of the degree of EFP (extraretinal fibrovascular proliferation) because the outcome is poor by the time the stage at treatment has reached threshold.