A supplement to PIE Magazine 09 www.piemagazine.org
SPECIAL REPORT The Retina
Subspecialty Takes Center Stage at
by Brooke Herron
APAO Bangkok
Despite the retina subspecialty being just one of the many ophthalmic specialties being presented at the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Congress (APAO 2019) in Bangkok, Thailand, the topics – from medical to surgical retina, in e-posters alone – deserve a special spotlight. Here are some that delegates are going to look forward to…
“supplemental unmonitored oxygen for prolonged duration and multiple systemic co-morbidities could be a contributing factor.”
Risky business: Contributing factors in AP-ROP
In recurrent central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR), choroidal neovascularization (CNV) can occur as a result of persistent or recurrent serous macular detachment. Therefore, in an e-poster called Atypical Choroidal Neovascularization Presenting in Recurrent Central Serous Chorioretinopathy, Drs. Vega Casalita and Ari Djatikusumo aim to demonstrate that CNV can be managed as a complication of chronic, persistent CSCR.
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of childhood blindness. In its more severe (and rare) state – aggressive posterior retinopathy of prematurity (AP-ROP) – the condition rapidly progresses, often causing impairment, despite appropriate and timely treatment. To take a deeper look into the disease’s pathogenesis, Dr. Srijita Mitra and colleagues presented an e-poster called A Retrospective Analysis on the Risk Factors for Aggressive PosteriorRetinopathy of Prematurity. In this observational case series, the authors examined patient files for 30 babies. Parameters including birth weight, gestational age, post conceptual age, associated illness, duration of oxygen supplementation and treatment advised, were analyzed. The authors found that all 30 babies received supplemental oxygen for three days (or more) after birth and all had other systemic comorbidities. The mean gestational age was 30.3 weeks and mean birth weight was 1.27 KGs. Forty-eight eyes of the 30 patients showed AP-ROP on examination, of which 29 eyes
(60.4%) had zone II posterior AP-ROP, and 19 eyes (39.6%) had zone I APROP. Of the 30, 22 babies received laser and intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment. These results led the authors to conclude that “in our case series, AP-ROP in premature infants occurs mostly in posterior zone II, with flat neovascularization and atypical features like large vascular loops.” In addition, they found that
Stop CNV in its tracks.
The domino effect: Treat CNV as a complication of CSCR