Short-term outcome after intravitreal ranibizumab injections for the treatment of retinopathy of prematurity

Purpose: To evaluate ocular outcome in premature infants treated with intravitreal ranibizumab injections for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) over a period of 3 years. Methods: An interventional case series. Premature infants with high-risk prethreshold or threshold ROP with plus disease received an off label monotherapy with intravitreal injections of ranibizumab. The primary outcome was treatment success defined as regression of neovascularisation (NV) and absence of recurrence. The secondary outcomes were ocular and systemic adverse events and visual acuity. Results: Six eyes were included in the study and treated with intravitreal injections of ranibizumab. All showed complete resolution of NV after a single injection. The anti-angiogenic intravitreal injections allowed for continued normal vessel growth into the peripheral retina, without any signs of disease recurrence or progression during the follow up period. No ocular or systemic adverse effects were observed. Conclusions: Three years of follow up in a small series suggest that intravitreal ranibizumab injections for ROP result in apparently preserved ocular outcome. Further large scale studies are needed to address the long-term safety and efficacy.