Early treatment benefits Type 1 ROP, but not Type 2

Researchers analyzed six-year visual acuity results for infants enrolled in the Early Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity Study. They show that early treatment in Type 1 high-risk prethreshold eyes reduced their risk of 20/200 or worse visual acuity at age 6, (25.1 percent versus 32.8 percent; P=0.02), but not in Type 2 eyes (23.6 percent versus 19.4 percent; P = 0.37). Early-treated eyes also showed a significantly better structural outcome compared with conventionally managed eyes. Of the Type 2 eyes managed with close observation, more than half improved without treatment. Despite the benefits of early treatment, 65.4 percent of eyes treated early still developed visual acuity worse than 20/40 by age 6.