Premature, low birth weight babies can go blind due to retinopathy

(Baonghean.vn)Retinopathy of prematurity, also known as ROP, is a condition in which the retina of a baby's eye develops abnormally and can cause retinal detachment and lead to blindness.

In the world and especially in developing countries like VietnamMale, ROP is the leading cause of blindness in premature babies. In our country, many studies show that more than 30% of babies with a birth weight of less than 2 kg or a gestational age of less than 34 weeks have retinopathy of prematurity. Of those children with the disease, about 15 - 20% will go blind if not treated promptly and properly.

The retina is the image-sensing part of the eye. In premature and low birth weight babies, the retina is not fully developed, the blood vessels develop abnormally, the fibrous tissue proliferates, leading to retinal contraction and detachment, which can cause blindness. Low birth weight babies are often susceptible to systemic diseases such as infections, respiratory failure requiring oxygen, etc., which aggravates the condition of the retina.

When treatment is indicated, there are two commonly used methods: retinal laser and intraocular injection of vascular and fibrotic inhibitors (intraocular Avastin). Both methods give good results.

In our country, the difficulty in controlling this disease is detecting the disease, because to screen for ROP, medical staff must be trained and equipped with modern machinery. In Nghe An, since 2008, with funding from ORBIS, Children's Hospital has been selected as one of the 8 key units and the first in the country to have the conditions to conduct screening for retinopathy of prematurity in premature babies.

Therefore, when faced with a newborn weighing less than 2kg or with a gestational age of less than 34 weeks, medical staff and family members need to send the baby to the Children's Hospital within the first 2 to 3 weeks after birth for timely examination and detection.

Phan Dinh Toan