Intravitreal Bevacizumab As Treatment For Retinopathy Of Prematurity

Introduction: Standard treatment of threshold Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is laser photocoagulation (LPC). Recently, bevacizumab, a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor has been used with positive results. Objective: To communicate the response to treatment with bevacizumab in premature newborns with threshold retinopathy. Patients and Method: Very low birth weight (VLBW) infants that received bevacizumab, in monotherapy or associated with LPC, as treatment for threshold ROP, were analyzed. Response to treatment, reinterventions and complications were evaluated. Results: 17 VLBW infants were analyzed with mean gestational age 26.4 +/- 1.7 weeks and mean birth weight 850 +/- 141 g. All 6 patients treated with bevacizumab in association with LPC did not require reintervention. Of the 11 neonates that only received bevacizumab, 36.3% needed further treatment. Conclusions: Bevacizumab could be an effective therapy for treatment of threshold ROP. In our experience it presented advantages compared with LPC, since therapy can be carried out without transferring the patient and with no use of general anesthetics. No short term complications were observed with the use of bevacizumab in treated patients.