Abstract
Purpose :
Understanding early retinal development is critical to improving visual function of infants born prematurely. Using ultra-high resolution spectral domain hand-held OCT (HH SD-OCT) we compare the foveal development for the first year of life in: (1) premature infants to full term infants, and (2) premature infants with a history of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and treatment.
Methods :
49 premature infants (<32 weeks gestational age at birth or <1500g birth weight) and 44 full term infants (37-42 weeks gestational age at birth) were recruited to the study. Premature infants were grouped according to the presence or absence of ROP as follows: (1) no previous ROP, (2) regressed ROP, or (3) treated ROP with laser. Ophthalmic examination and HH SD-OCT scan (Bioptigen, 2.6µm axial resolution) were performed in the outpatient clinical setting between 39-90 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA) without sedation. Fovea images were analysed using a customised macro in ImageJ. The thickness of the retina, inner retinal layers and outer retinal layers were quantified and compared between groups using linear mixed models.
Results :
At the central fovea inner, outer and total retinal layer thicknesses were all significantly greater in premature infants compared to full term infants (p<0.001). In the nasal and temporal perifoveal region inner retinal layers were also thicker (p<0.05) but no significant differences were observed in outer layers (p>0.5). In contrast, for premature infants, ROP category significantly affected the outer layer thickness in central, nasal and temporal foveal regions (p<0.05). In the central fovea premature infants treated for ROP with laser had significantly thicker inner retinal layers (p=0.001) and thinner outer retinal layers (p<0.05) than premature infants without previous ROP.
Conclusions :
We demonstrate infants born prematurely have a different time course of foveal development during the first year of life compared to infants born at full term. Our results show laser treatment for retinopathy of prematurity significantly affects early central fovea development, which may have future implications for visual function.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.