Physician presents refresher on retinopathy of prematurity

Retinal vascularization commences at 16 weeks of gestation and finishes around 36 weeks nasally and 40 to 45 weeks temporally. When an infant is born prematurely, retinal vascularization is not yet complete and the infant is predisposed to developing retinopathy of prematurity. The infants most at risk for developing ROP are those born sooner than 30 weeks’ gestational age and less than 1,500 grams. Therefore, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, along with the American Academy of Ophthalmology, have devised a protocol for screening at-risk infants for ROP.