Retinopathy Of Prematurity: Expert Says Early Diagnosis Can Save Vision Of 5000 Babies Per Year, Shares Guidelines

With the early diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity, above 5000 children every year can be saved from going blind. The CEO of ICARE Eye Hospital details the intricacies of this issue faced by India

ROP is curable and permanent visual loss can be avoided with early treatment

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Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a potentially blinding retina condition that can happen in infants born prematurely or with low birth weight, can affect up to 200,000 pre-term newborns in India each year. Only 30,000–40,000 of these infants receive immediate medical attention. Since the incidence of severe ROP is about 3%, it is estimated that around 5,000 children go blind in the country every year due to this entirely preventable cause of childhood blindness. 

What Is ROP?

It develops as a result of an irregular proliferation of growing retinal blood vessels. It can completely detach the retina in its severe form, which results in blindness. It cannot be prevented since it results from preterm birth.

However, it is curable and permanent visual loss can be avoided with early treatment (within a few weeks after birth). If untreated, ROP, a retinal disorder that threatens vision, can cause lifelong blindness. 

Lack Of Awareness And Resources In The Country

According to Dr Saurabh Choudhry, the CEO of ICARE Eye Hospital: “An eye checkup done within 4 to 6 weeks after the birth of a premature baby can identify ROP, but lack of ROP-trained ophthalmologists and neonatal care paediatricians in India is a big challenge. Low awareness about ROP among parents, healthcare workers, and counsellors add to the problem. There are only about 200 ROP specialists in India currently.”

Over the past ten years, the Centre has developed around 650 Special Newborn Care Units (SNCUs) have been developed at the district level throughout the nation as part of facility-based newborn care.

He further added: "ROP is estimated to be responsible for 20% of childhood blindness, and the trend is only increasing. So, every fifth child who is blind in India can be attributed to ROP, which could have been prevented with timely intervention. A premature baby born before 7 months of gestation with very low birth weight (<1.5Kg) who was admitted to NICU and received Oxygen therapy is the most vulnerable for developing ROP.”

Why Guidelines Of Western Countries Can't Be Followed In India?

The guidelines followed in Western countries recommend screening babies below 30 to 32 weeks or less than 1,500 gm of weight. However, these guidelines cannot be followed in India. In India, larger and more mature babies are at risk of developing sight-threatening ROP due to the variation in the standard of neonatal care.

"As many studies in India found that even more mature and heavier babies developed ROP, the revised guidelines recommend screening all babies with a birth weight of up to 2,000 gm or gestational age of up to 34 weeks,” Dr Saurabh Choudhry said.