Promise and potential pitfalls of anti-VEGF drugs in retinopathy of prematurity
- 1Department of Paediatrics,University of Otago, Christchurch. Christchurch, New Zealand
- 2International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
- 3The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- 4Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS, New Delhi, India
- 5Calgary Retina Consultants, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- 6Department of Optometry & Visual Science, City University, London, UK
- 7Instituto Fernandes Figuera, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Professor B Darlow, Christchurch School of Medicine, University of Otago Christchurch, PO Box 4345, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand; brian.darlow{at}otago.ac.nz
- Accepted 20 December 2008
Only rarely does a new treatment offer a real sea change. An example in the field of neonatology is the use of exogenous surfactant for hyaline membrane disease.1 For the eye, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs may be the therapeutic advance of our time, revolutionising the treatment of vasoproliferative retinopathies including age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. In his informative editorial, Sears suggests that anti-VEGF therapy may play a similar role in retinopathy of prematurity.2
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a vasoproliferative disease, and it is therefore not surprising that there is increasing enthusiasm for anti-VEGF drugs.3 4 …
