Ocular blood flow in preterm neonates.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a disorder affecting low birthweight, preterm neonates. In the preterm eye, the retina is not fully developed and neovascularization may occur at the margin between the developed vascular retina and undeveloped avascular retina. Without timely treatment by laser or intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy, this can lead to tractional retinal detachment and blindness.

Ocular Blood Flow in Preterm Neonates: A Preliminary Report.

Purpose: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a vision-threatening complication occurring in pre-term neonates. The standard of care entails regular monitoring by dilated ophthalmoscopy examinations, which entail stress and potential morbidity. In this pilot study, we used plane-wave ultrasound (PWUS) to image, measure, and assess the association of blood-flow velocities in the retrobulbar vessels with ROP stages ranging from stage 0 (immature vessels without ROP) to stage 3.

Parental perceptions toward digital imaging and telemedicine for retinopathy of prematurity management.

Background: Telemedicine is an emerging technology with potential to improve care for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). This study evaluates parental perceptions about digital imaging and telemedicine for ROP care.

Methods: During a 1-year period, one parent of each infant who underwent wide-field retinal imaging for ROP was given a questionnaire designed to evaluate parental perceptions using a 5-point Likert-type scale.

Retinopathy of prematurity management using single-image vs multiple-image telemedicine examinations.

Purpose: To compare performance of single-image vs multiple-image telemedicine examinations for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) diagnosis.

Design: Prospective comparative study.

Methods: A total of 248 eyes from 67 consecutive infants underwent wide-angle retinal imaging by a trained neonatal nurse at 31 to 33 weeks and/or 35 to 37 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA) at a single academic institution.

Telemedical diagnosis of retinopathy of prematurity intraphysician agreement between ophthalmoscopic examination and image-based interpretation.

Objective: To evaluate the intraphysician agreement between ophthalmoscopic examination and image-based telemedical interpretation for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) diagnosis, when performed by the same expert physician grader.

Design: Prospective, nonrandomized, comparative study.

Participants: Sixty-seven consecutive premature infants who underwent ROP examination at a major university medical center whose parents consented for participation.

Telemedical retinopathy of prematurity diagnosis: accuracy, reliability, and image quality.

Objective: To prospectively measure accuracy, reliability, and image quality of telemedical retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) diagnosis.

Methods: Two-hundred forty-eight eyes from 67 consecutive infants underwent wide-angle retinal imaging by a trained neonatal nurse at 31 to 33 weeks' and/or 35 to 37 weeks' postmenstrual age (PMA) using a standard protocol. Data were uploaded to a Web-based telemedicine system and interpreted by 3 expert retinal specialist graders who provided a diagnosis (no ROP, mild ROP, type 2 prethreshold ROP, treatment-requiring ROP) and an evaluation of image quality for each eye.