FLUORESCEIN ANGIOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF PERIPHERAL RETINAL VASCULATURE AFTER PRIMARY INTRAVITREAL RANIBIZUMAB FOR...

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Neonatal Medicine
• Vascular Biology

Background:

• Type 1 retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of vision loss in premature infants.
• Intravitreal ranibizumab is increasingly used as a primary treatment for ROP.
• Long-term effects of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy on retinal vascular development require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate angiographic findings in neonates treated with intravitreal ranibizumab for Type 1 ROP.
• To assess the extent of retinal vascularization and identify vascular anomalies post-treatment.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of fluorescein angiograms from 30 eyes of 16 neonates.
• Patients received intravitreal ranibizumab as primary treatment for Type 1 ROP.
• Angiographic outcomes included vascularization to Zone III, leakage, blunting, dilatation, and capillary dropout.

Main Results:

• Only 50% of eyes achieved vascularization to Zone III by 150 weeks postmenstrual age.
• Persistent vascular leakage was observed in 40% of eyes.
• Over 90% exhibited vascular blunting, dilatation, and/or capillary dropout.

Conclusions:

• Intravitreal ranibizumab effectively halts ROP but leads to incomplete peripheral vascularization in many cases.
• Most treated eyes showed evidence of vascular anomalies on fluorescein angiography.
• Future comparative studies should include fluorescein angiography to assess peripheral retinal vasculature status.