Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To describe recognition acuity at age 10 years in eyes with and without retinal residua of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Methods: 247 of 255 surviving CRYO–ROP randomized trial patients participated. A reference group of 102 of 104 Philadelphia–based CRYO–ROP study participants who did not develop ROP was also tested. Presence and severity of ROP residua were documented by a study certified ophthalmologist. Masked testers measured monocular recognition (ETDRS) visual acuity when the children were 10 years of age. Results:More severe retinal residua were associated with worse visual acuity, and this association was present regardless of whether or not retinal ablation was performed to treat the severe acute–phase ROP. However, within each ROP residua category, there was a wide range of visual acuity results. Conclusions: This is the first report of the relation between ETDRS visual acuity and structural abnormalities related to ROP in a large group of eyes that developed threshold ROP in the perinatal period. In general, visual deficits are greater in eyes with more severe retinal residua than in eyes with no or mild residua. However, severity of the ROP residua does not predict the visual acuity of an individual eye, because within a single residua category, visual acuity may range from near normal to blind.
Keywords: retinopathy of prematurity • visual acuity • visual development: infancy and childhood