Clearance of bevacizumab from the bloodstream in premature infants takes at least 2 months. Although serum free VEGF levels decreased following either laser or bevacizumab treatment, the reductions were more significant in the IVB-treated groups. Potential long-term effects of systemic exposure to bevacizumab in infants need to be studied further.
The results suggest that bevacizumab treatment resulted in significant angiogenic cytokine profile changes in infants with severe ROP. The long-term clinical impact of these changes should be studied carefully.
Purpose: To compare vision and developmental outcomes in infants who were treated with intravitreal bevacizumab injection (IVB) versus laser for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Methods: Forty-two infants were enrolled in this study and treated with either IVB at 0.625 mg per eye, per dose (22 patients, 43 eyes), or laser (20 patients, 37 eyes) for type I ROP. Systemic complications were compared between these two groups. Structural examinations and cycloplegic refractions were performed at age 1 year. Body weight gains were collected from birth to 36 weeks of postnatal age. Neurodevelopmental assessment was done at 1 year chronological age. Results: At 1 year of age, four eyes (10.8%) in the laser-treated group and none (0.0%) in the IVBtreated group had unfavorable structural outcome; ten (30%) eyes in the IVB-treated group and 17
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