[Retinopathy of prematurity in extremely low birth weight infants: a Tokyo multicenter study].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate how the increase in survival rate in extremely low birth weight (a birth weight of 1,000 g or less) infants had affected the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and the frequency of laser treatment.


METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 122 surviving premature infants with birthweights less than 1,000 g to determine the severity of ROP observed at 16 neonatal intensive care units in Tokyo between April and October 2002.


RESULTS
The survival rate was 85.6%. The mean gestational age was 26.74 weeks and the mean birth weight was 782.25 g. One-hundred-and-five infants (86.1%) developed ROP, fifty (41.0%) received laser treatment, and six (4.9%) had retinal detachment. The median postmenstrual age (gestational age at birth plus chronological age in weeks, PMA) at the onset of ROP was 32.5 weeks, and the first laser treatment was performed at the median PMA of 35.7 weeks.


CONCLUSIONS
In these extremely low birth weight infants, there was an increase in the survival rate and in the incidence of severe ROP that progressed to the stage that required treatment.
Hiraoka
Miina
M
Department of Neonatology, Tokyo Metropolitan Bokutoh Hospital, Japan.
Watanabe
Toyoko
T
Kawakami
Tadashi
T
Ito
Rei
R
Takigawa
Itsuro
I
Suzumura
Hirotaka
H
Tada
Hiroshi
H
Kubota
Yoshimi
Y
Hayashi
Yoshihiro
Y
Yoshida
Masaki
M
Kabe
Kazuhiko
K
Nishida
Akira
A
Kondo
Masatoshi
M
Takeuchi
Toshio
T
Ueda
Toshihiko
T
Miyajima
Tasuku
T
Muramatsu
Daisuke
D
Sakuma
Izumi
I
Toyoguchi
Mitsuko
M
Shima
Yoshio
Y
Takada
Masaaki
M
Nakayama
Reifui
R
Hosaka
Atsuto
A
Yokoyama
Toshiyuki
T
Hasegawa
Ren
R
Hoshi
Jun
J
Soeda
Atsuhiro
A
Toyoda
Mihoko
M
Saito
Tomohiro
T
D001724:Birth Weight; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D053685:Laser Therapy; D012178:Retinopathy of Prematurity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D014041:Tokyo / Q000453:epidemiology