THE PREVALENCE OF RETINOPATHY OF PREMATURITY UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF THE PERINATAL CENTER BASED AT THE CHILDREN’S MULTI-DISCIPLINARY HOSPITAL

Introduction. Retinopathy of prematurity remains one of the most challenging problems in neonatal ophthalmology and the leading cause of blindness and disability in the young children. Purpose. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of retinopathy of prematurity and the effectiveness of its treatment under the present conditions of nursing the preterm infants. Materials and methods. We carried out the ophthalmological observations and treatment of 393 premature children admitted to the Perinatal Centre of the Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University during the period from 2014 to 2016 for the provision of the specialized care needed to manage various obstetric and perinatal pathological conditions. The patients included the children born with a body weight from 450 to 2500 g (average weight of 1056 ± 301,9 g) at the 23d to 33d weeks of gestation (mean age at birth 28,77 ± 2,37 weeks). Results. The frequency of retinopathy of prematurity and dynamics of its clinical course as well as the need for its laser and surgical treatment in such patients differed during these three years. The number of children with retinopathy of prematurity in the group with the extremely low birth weight increased from 75.0% in 2014 to 96.3% in 2016 largely due to the rise in the occurrence of the early stages of the disease among the preterm infants in combination with severe concomitant cardiosurgical and neurosurgical pathologies. 77.8% of the children in this group needed to be treated with the use of preventive retinal laser photocoagulation. However, only every third infant born at the 28-33d week of gestation actually received the required surgical treatment. The effectiveness of retinal laser photocoagulation increased from 85% in 2014 to 95% in 2016. Conclusion. The management of the preterm children presenting with retinopathy of prematurity based at the perinatal centre with the integrated maternity hospital and the multidisciplinary children’s hospital creates the optimal conditions for the comprehensive treatment of such patients

with retinopathy of prematurity, perinatal centre, laser photocoagulation, vitreoretinal surgery