00:01When a preterm baby is born, the entire family is overwhelmed with many emotions. The newborn
00:08in the NICU will be undergoing many tests and ROP screening is an important one among them.
00:14On this ROP Awareness Week, let us try and understand what is ROP and how it can be
00:19prevented and treated. ROP stands for Retinopathy of Prematurity. It's a condition where normal
00:27maturation of the retina stops due to the child's early birth and abnormal blood results
00:31grow on the retina leading to severe complications. If left untreated, this condition can lead
00:37to lifelong and irreversible blindness in the child. But it is also entirely preventable
00:44if we intervene early. The risk of developing ROP is directly related to how small the baby
00:50is. The smaller the baby is in terms of both gestational age and weight, the higher the risk
00:56of developing ROP. In addition, those babies with additional complications after birth
01:01are also at higher risk of developing ROP. So in India, we screen all infants born at or
01:10before 34 weeks of gestation or who are born with a birth weight of 2000 grams or lesser for ROP.
01:17We sometimes even screen older and heavier babies too if they have been unstable. For example,
01:23if they have had an infection in the NICU or if they have been on oxygen for very prolonged periods
01:27of time. The first screening is always at four weeks of life. And in high risk children, the first
01:34screening can even be done at two to three weeks of their life. Your neonatologist will decide this.
01:40And please remember that absence of ROP in the first screening does not mean the baby does not need
01:45more screening. Screening will continue regularly either until the retina matures or until we pick up ROP
01:51and have treated it. There are four treatment options available. Observation, lasers, injections and
02:00surgery. Observation is obviously only for early stages of ROP and surgery is usually reserved for
02:06very advanced stages. And the goal of screening is to pick up disease early and prevent it from
02:12progressing to stages that will need surgery. If the baby has undergone lasers or injection, the child
02:18will need continued follow-up, sometimes well into adulthood. These children will need glasses
02:24frequently and a regular eye checkup throughout their life is important. Please remember that ROP is
02:30a leading cause of childhood blindness but also remember that it is entirely preventable with
02:36timely screening, eye checkups. Thank you.
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