[Retinopathy in the newborn. Nursing care]

The use of oxygen as treatment for cardiorespiratory pathology in newborns is an accepted, regular practice. The prolonged use and high concentration of oxygen in premature newborn infants has been associated with an increase in cases of Proliferate Retinopathy in Premature Infants. This article publishes the results obtained over the past two years from the application of a treatment procedure which followed the recommendations made by the Standards Commission of the Spanish Association of Pediatricians regarding the measurement, administration and monitoring of oxygen to at risk newborn infants while evaluating the number of cases of retinopathy and their severity. Included in this study are all the newborns attended to at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the "Arquitecto Marcide-Novoa Santos" Clinical Hospital in Ferrol from March 1995 to February 1997 which weighed less than 1500 grams or were born before the 36th week of gestation and received oxygen at a concentration above 50%. We encountered one case of level 3 retinopathy. In this case, we noticed a significant relationship among the point of gestation completed at birth, weight at birth and the severity of Proliferate Retinopathy in Premature Infants. We also proved that a painstaking control of oxygen allows a medical team to lower the degree of retinopathy in premature infants.