Organization of ophthalmological surgical care for the treatment of retinopathy in premature infants in a neonatal unit
Pediatric risk factors of retinopathy are analyzed in premature infants with different degrees of this condition, born before and after 32 weeks gestation. According to the data of our unit, varying retinopathy develops in half of the extremely premature infants born at less than 32 weeks gestations; a third of them require its surgical correction and blindness occurs in 6.8% of the infants with Stage 3+ retinopathy of prematurity or in 1.92% of all the infants with retinopathy. The babies at more than 32 weeks gestation show a relationship of the severity of retinopathy to respiratory disorders during adaptation and a need for mechanical ventilation, the degree of intrauterine hypoxia and birth asphyxia, which give rise to severe intragastric hemorrhages. The occurrence of retinopathy, particularly its severe form, in infants born after 34 weeks gestation suggests that iatrogenic causes are implicated. To organize ophthalmological care is recommended for the treatment of retinopathy of prematurity. The authors’ organizational transformations made in neonatal intensive care units were effective and could reduce the rate of poor outcomes of retinopathy of prematurity.