Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 6, 2026
Subretinal Injection of Gene Therapy Vectors and Stem Cells in the Perinatal Mouse Eye
Published on: November 25, 2012
Intravitreal Methotrexate for the Treatment and Prevention of Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy in Pediatric Patients
Michael Bouaziz1, George Jiao1, Daniel Zhu1
1The Department of Ophthalmology, Northwell Health Eye Institute, Great Neck, New York.
Insights
Intravitreal methotrexate injections show promise for treating proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) in children. This treatment helped prevent recurrent retinal detachments and improved visual acuity in pediatric patients.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Pediatric Medicine
- Retinal Diseases
Background:
- Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is a serious complication following retinal detachment.
- Pediatric PVR presents unique management challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravitreal methotrexate for treating PVR in pediatric patients.
- To assess the impact on recurrent retinal detachments and visual acuity.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective chart review of pediatric patients with PVR treated with intravitreal methotrexate.
- Primary outcomes: final visual acuity and incidence of recurrent detachments.
- Average follow-up of 10 months with approximately ten injections per patient.
Main Results:
- 78% of patients did not experience recurrent retinal detachment after methotrexate therapy.
- 100% of patients had attached retinas at the final follow-up.
- Visual acuity improved from hand motions to counting fingers median.
- No cases of keratitis or corneal epithelial defects were observed.
Conclusions:
- Intravitreal methotrexate injections demonstrate potential as an effective treatment for pediatric PVR.
- The findings suggest methotrexate can help prevent PVR recurrence in children.
- Further research with larger sample sizes is warranted to confirm these results.
Background And Objective:
The aim of this study was to report on the use of intravitreal methotrexate for proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) in pediatric patients.
Patients And Methods:
This is a retrospective chart review of pediatric patients treated with intravitreal methotrexate for PVR. Primary outcome measures included final visual acuity at last follow-up visit, and incidence of recurrent detachments following initiation of therapy.
Results:
Patients received an average of ten injections of intravitreal methotrexate. The average follow-up period was 10 months. Seven out of nine (78%) patients did not detach again following initiation of methotrexate therapy. All patients (100%) were attached at last follow-up visit. There were no keratitis or corneal epithelial defects during follow-up. Visual acuity improved from a median of hand motions to counting fingers at last follow-up visit.
Conclusions:
Data from this small and variable sample size demonstrates the potential of intravitreal methotrexate injections to be an effective agent for the treatment and prevention of PVR in the pediatric population.
