Acute retrolental fibroplasia.

A pathologic analysis of 19 cases of acute retrolental fibroplasia in autopsy eyes from paranatal infants is presented. The clinical profile of these subjects showed no clear-cut maternal factors. Infant factors included systemic congenital anomalies (14 cases); ocular congenital anomalies (1); birth weight--less than 1500 grams (12), more than 2000 grams (4); neonatal complications--"respiratory distress" (8), "apneic spells" (7), Erythroblastosis fetalis (3); oxygen therapy of varying amounts (14); periodic elevations of arterial oxygen (7); and varying survival times (intrauterine death, one case; less then 48 extrauterine hours, 9 cases). Considering all cases, the lesions showed a progressive pattern--beginning with proliferation of primitive vascular mesenchyme in vanguard of advancing vasculature (four cases), formation of intraretinal band of endothelial cells in rear guard (10 cases), and finally, extraretinal neovascularization from rear guard zone (five cases).