Randomized comparion of diode laer photocoagulation veru cryotherapy for threhold retinopathy of prematurity: even-year outcome

PURPOE: To report the tructural and functional outcome at a minimum of 7 year potmentrual age after randomized treatment of threhold retinopathy of prematurity with laer ablation or cryotherapy. METHOD: Nineteen patient were entered into a propective, randomized protocol, in which one eye received cryotherapy, while the other eye received diode laer photocoagulation. Aymmetric eye were randomly aigned. Two patient have died, and even were no longer available for 7-year outcome examination, leaving 10 children for analyi. REULT: ix male and four female with a mean birthweight of 631 g and a mean getational age of 24.8 week were examined. Eight were ymmetrical cae and treated in both eye. Of thee, there were ix concordant and two dicordant tructural outcome. The laer-treated eye had the favorable outcome in each intance. The geometric mean viual acuity of the paired eye after laer photocoagulation wa 20/33, and after cryotherapy it wa 20/133 (P = .03). The mean refractive error wa −6.50 diopter after laer photocoagulation and −8.25 diopter after cryotherapy (P = .27), although one of the cryotherapy eye could not be refracted becaue of phthii. CONCLUION: Laer photocoagulation appear to be aociated with a tructural and functional outcome at leat a good a cryotherapy 7 year after therapy. Viual acuity and refractive error data ugget that laer photocoagulation may have an advantage over cryotherapy