Retinopathy of Prematurity (Rop) Is Term Paper

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There have been other factors that have been associated with the problem more recently, but the severity of illness and the amount of time spent on oxygen seem to be the largest predicting factors. In other words, the infants that are the sickest and the smallest when they are born are the ones that have the highest risk of ROP, and also the ones that have the highest risk for the most serious stages of the disease. Interestingly enough, babies that are African-American appear to be less likely to experience ROP on a level that is considered severe (www.emedicine.com,2002).

During gestation, retinal vasculature usually begins developing around the 16th week. This vasculature grows in a circumferential pattern and does not become fully mature until the baby has reached full term. When a baby is born too early, the vasculature stops maturing. Many of the blood vessels then constrict and some of them are also obliterated. Naturally, this also slows down or stops the progression of normal development of the blood vessels.

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When the retina continues to grow it often does not get enough blood supply and retinal hypoxia can occur from this, as well as the overgrowth of blood vessels in an effort to increase the vascular supply to the retina (www.emedicine.com,2002).

As for what can be done for treatment, infants that are considered at risk are screened, but there are no specific therapies that can be utilized. There are, however, surgeries that can be performed on these infants. Ablative therapy that involves cryotherapy or laser surgery is one of the most popular methods for care today. Once this takes place, however, the infant will need follow-up care in order to see whether the disease has actually been stopped, as it is sometimes necessary to perform more surgeries. Follow-up care will also be needed for the life of the infant as it grows older (www.emedicine.com,2002)......

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