Evaluation of Refractive Errors and Ocular Biometric Outcomes after Intravitreal Bevacizumab for Retinopathy of Prematurity

Purpose: To assess ocular biometric outcomes following intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) monotherapy for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and compare these results with those of laser photocoagulated infants and with the ones with spontaneously regressed ROP.

Materials and methods: Premature infants including those who underwent IVB monotherapy (Group 1) or laser photocoagulation (Group 2) for ROP and infants with spontaneously regressed ROP (Group 3) were recruited for the study. Refractive errors and ocular biometric parameters (Axial length [AL], anterior chamber depth [ACD], and lens thickness [LT]) were measured at adjusted 1 year of age in all subjects.

Results: There was no significant difference of spherical equivalent (SE) value between the groups (P = 0.781). The incidence of high myopia was 7.4% in Group 1 and 12.7% in Group 2 (P = 0.081). No infants exhibited high myopia in Group 3. LT was greater in Group 2 when compared to Group 1 and Group 3 (P = 0.011). Lower SE was significantly correlated to longer AL in Group 1 (r = ?0.656, P = 0.015). There was a significant positive correlation between SE and ACD values in Group 2 (r = 0.391, P = 0.005).

Conclusion: The study showed no significant difference of SE between the groups. High myopia was only present among the treated infants either with IVB or laser. Infants who received laser treatment significantly had thicker lenses.