The macular microvascular changes in children with a history of retinopathy of prematurity treated with intravitreal Bevacizumab injection using optical coherence tomography angiography: a retrospective cohort

• Published in: BMC ophthalmology 2024-11, Vol.24 (1), p.505-9, Article 505
• Main Authors: Eftekhari Milani, Amir, Ahoor, Mohammad Hosein, Etemad, Fatemeh, Kharrazi Ghadim, Banafsheh, Arasteh, Amin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acuity; Angiogenesis Inhibitors - administration & dosage; Angiogenesis Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Angiography; Anti-VEGF; Bevacizumab; Bevacizumab - administration & dosage; Bevacizumab - therapeutic use; Child; Child, Preschool; Congenital diseases; Eye; Female; Females; Fluorescein Angiography - methods; Fundus Oculi; Gestational Age; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infants (Premature); Intravitreal Injections; IVB; Macula Lutea - blood supply; Male; Medical imaging; Microvasculature; Monoclonal antibodies; Neonates; OCTA; Retina; Retinal Vessels - diagnostic imaging; Retinal Vessels - pathology; Retinopathy; Retinopathy of prematurity; Retinopathy of Prematurity - diagnosis; Retinopathy of Prematurity - drug therapy; Retinopathy of Prematurity - physiopathology; Retrolental fibroplasia; Retrospective Studies; ROP; Statistical analysis; Tomography; Tomography, Optical Coherence - methods; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A - antagonists & inhibitors; Vision disorders in children; Visual Acuity
• ISSN: 1471-2415; 1471-2415
• DOI: 10.1186/s12886-024-03773-3

Our study aims to evaluate and compare the macular microvascular condition of the intravitreal Bevacizumab (IVB)-treated retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) cases to the preterm cases without ROP and spontaneously regressed ROPs. It is a retrospective cohort of 50 premature neonates visited from 2016 to 2017 for ROP screening in Nikookari Eye Hospital and recalled for re-evaluation in 2022. These patients were classified into three groups based on their medical documents: 1. Preterm cases without ROP (PT), 2. Spontaneously regressed ROPs (SR), and 3. IVB-treated ROPs (IVB). All the included cases underwent a thorough ophthalmic exam, cyclo-refraction, Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) assessment, and macular optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). The foveal thickness, foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area, foveal, parafoveal, and perifoveal vascular density (VD) were evaluated as the quantitative variables. Twenty-five male and 25 female cases with a median age of 5.0 entered the study. Twenty-six eyes were evaluated in the PT group, 50 in the SR group, and 24 in the IVB group. The SR group consisted of 25 zone-2 and 25 zone-3 ROPs. In comparison, the IVB group consisted of 9 zone-1 and 15 zone-2 ROPs (p: