Timing of initial screening examinations for retinopathy of prematurity.

OBJECTIVE

To test a screening protocol for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) that uses the dual criteria of postconceptional age and chronological age, rather than a single parameter, to determine precisely when to begin eye examinations.

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 179 infants (326 eyes) who had undergone laser treatment for threshold ROP. We entered their chronological and postconceptional ages at treatment into a database and evaluated various screening parameters to determine the combination of criteria that would allow us to safely postpone the initial eye examinations.

RESULTS

Screening infants at 7 weeks of chronological age or 34 weeks of postconceptional age (whichever comes first), but not before 5 weeks of chronological age, seems to reliably detect the onset of threshold ROP while reducing the number of unnecessary early examinations.

CONCLUSION

Simultaneously applied dual criteria of chronological age and postconceptional age may be a superior method of determining when to initiate ROP examinations and is preferable to using either chronological age or postconceptional age alone.