Retinopathy of prematurity and retinal detachment.

A group of 39 patients with retinopathy of prematurity or retrolental fibroplasia have been evaluated. Nine of these were prematures at the time of their examination and showed severe bilateral disease. One eye in each patient was treated with the other eye serving as a control using either Xenon photocoagulation or cryocoagulation. It will take many years to observe the effect of this form of therapy but initial changes suggest alterations in the amount of retinal traction and in the appearance of blood vessels at the posterior pole in some of the treated patients. Thirty older patients have been assessed and of these, 18 eyes developed retinal detachments. Of the 16 operated upon, 87% had successful scleral buckling surgery. Three additional patients had similar retinal findings to retrolental fibroplasia but no history of prematurity or oxygen therapy. These patients were not included in this study. Retinopathy of prematurity is much less common now that it was 2 decades ago, but still represents a significant cause of ocular morbidity and blindness.