Retinopathy of Prematurity: An Update

Introduction Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) was originally designated as retrolental fibroplasias by Terry in 1952 who related it with premature birth. Term ROP was coined by Heath in 1951. It is a disorder of development of retinal blood vessels in premature babies. Normal retinal vascularization happens centrifugally from optic disc to ora. Vascularization up to nasal ora is completed by 8 months (36 weeks) and temporal ora by 10 months (39–41 weeks). The incidence of ROP is increasing in India because of improved neonatal survival rate. Out of 26 million annual live births in India, approximately 2 million are <2000 g in weight and are at risk of developing ROP. In India the incidence of ROP is between 38 and 51.9% in low-birth-weight infants.