Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (Anti-VEGF) for the Treatment of Type I ROP

This retrospective study evaluated the trends in the use of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) for the treatment of type-1 retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) during two periods - 2016-2019 (epoch A) and 2020-2022 (epoch B) in a neonatal unit of India. The study also compared the efficacy of anti-VEGF and laser therapies. Anti-VEGF was used in 8 (12.2%) out of 66 eyes treated during epoch A and 54 (75%) out of 72 eyes during epoch B (P = 0.001). The proportion of eyes in which ROP regressed with a single attempt of laser and anti-VEGF therapies was 8/20 (40%) and 7/15 (46.6%) respectively for the disease in zone 1 and aggressive-posterior ROP (P = 0.70) and 46/66 (69.6%) and 17/37 (45.9%) respectively for the disease in zone 2 (P = 0.018). There was a trend towards an increase in the use of anti-VEGF for ROP management over time. Anti-VEGF showed equal efficacy as laser for zone 1 ROP and AP-ROP, but laser therapy was better for zone 2 ROP.