title: Safety and efficacy of simultaneous bilateral 25-gauge lens-sparing vitrectomy for vascularly active stage 4 retinopathy of prematurity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report the safety and efficacy of simultaneous bilateral 25-gauge lens-sparing vitrectomy for vascularly active stage 4 retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective, noncomparative, consecutive case series. Twenty eyes of 10 babies who presented with vascularly active stage 4 ROP in both the eyes underwent simultaneous bilateral 25-gauge lens-sparing vitrectomy. After completing surgery for one eye, the other eye was re-prepped as performed before starting any new case of a different patient and an entire new set of disposable 25-gauge instruments were used. During the post-operative period parents were advised to keep separate eye drops for each eye and to wash their hands in between switching the eyes to put the drops.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean follow-up was 8.7 months (range 4-17 months). None of the cases developed any signs of infection. The anatomic success rate for stage 4a was 100% (11/11 eyes) and for stage 4b was 8/9 eyes (89%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results show that simultaneous bilateral 25-gauge lens-sparing vitrectomy for stage 4 ROP is a safe and effective procedure with a good outcome provided both eyes of the baby are treated as eyes of two different patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Retina and Ocular Oncology, Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Coimbatore, India.
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Retina and Ocular Oncology, Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Coimbatore, India.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Narendran
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Retina and Ocular Oncology, Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Coimbatore, India.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kalpana
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D059351:Organ Sparing Treatments / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D012163:Retinal Detachment / Q000601:surgery*; D012178:Retinopathy of Prematurity / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014792:Visual Acuity; D014821:Vitrectomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*