Screening for retinopathy of prematurity: A report from upper Egypt

AIM: To detect the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in a tertiary referral neonatal intensive care unit in upper Egypt and to describe the obstacles faced during implementing the screening protocol for the first time. METHODS: Consecutive infants were enrolled at birth and screened for ROP. We used the UK ROP guideline (May 2008) for infant selection, follow up and treatment. Repeat examinations were performed until retinal vascularisation was complete. RESULTS: Fifty-two infants were enrolled: 24 males and 28 females. Mean gestational age was 31.3wk (±2.8 SD) and mean birth weight was 1234.6 g (±221.1 SD). Incidence of ROP was 36.5% (stages 1, 2, 3 and 4a were 9.6%, 9.6%, 15.4% and 1.9% respectively), no stages 4b or 5 were found in this series. Six infants (11.5%) died during screening without ROP, 25 infants (48.1%) were discharged from screening with retinal vascularisation reaching zone III, 5 infants (9.6%) were treated with indirect diode with or without additional cryotherapy and 16 infants (30.8%) were lost to follow up. In this series gestational age rather than birth weight was found significantly correlated and predictive (P<0.05) with ROP stages. CONCLUSION: ROP in a single site in Upper Egypt appears to have comparable incidence to other areas worldwide. The main screening obstacle was missing cases due to the absence of a national ROP screening protocol.