Abstract
Purpose: :
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the electric response of the retina by standard electroretinogram to asses the retinal function after intravitreal bevacizumab in pediatric patients that were treated two years ago with antiangiogenic therapy for retinopathy of prematurity(ROP) stages III, IVa and IVb
Methods: :
After a multicenter study of 53 eyes with ROP previosly published ( Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2007; 48: E-Abstract 85), two years later we randomly choose 6 eyes from three patients of the 3 different groups. Group 1- patients treated with cryotherapy or laser that had persistence of neovascularization and progression of the disease. Group 2-patients with vitreous hemorrhage or persistence of fetal vasculature where we could not apply laser or cryo due to poor visualization of the retina. Group 3- Pre threshold or threshold disease. After Ethics committee Board Informed consent approval form parents, under oral sedation we performed standard electroretinogram recording rod response, scotopic maximal response, oscillatory potentials, single-flash cone response, and 30-Hz flicker response. We performed an analysis of our results
Results: :
Two eyes classified as IVb that progressed to retinal detachment (RD) with subsequent successful reattachment after surgery had abnormal ERG of scotopic responce probably after cryotherapy. One of eyes with IVa the retina reattached completely after bevacizuamb treatment and other remained with minimal RD with decreased response in electroretinogram in scotopic response. In stage III we found a normal response
Conclusions: :
The treatment of retinopathy of prematurity with bevacizumab is a promising therapy for a blinding disease. It is a concern the use of this therapy of this drug in immature retinas, but this study shows that the retina electric function is preserved, and bevacizumab may not be toxic for the retina
Clinical Trial: :
www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT00346814
Keywords: retinal neovascularization • electroretinography: clinical • retinopathy of prematurity