• Users Online: 32995
  • Home
  • Print this page
  • Email this page

   Table of Contents      
LETTER TO EDITOR
Year : 2007  |  Volume : 55  |  Issue : 4  |  Page : 317

Intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) for post-laser photocoagulation anterior segment ischemia in aggressive posterior retinopathy of prematurity


Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Alexandra Hospital, Singapore, 378 Alexandra Road, Singapore - 159964

Correspondence Address:
Tiakumzuk Sangtam
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Alexandra Hospital, Singapore, 378 Alexandra Road, Singapore - 159964

Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/0301-4738.33053

Rights and Permissions

How to cite this article:
Sangtam T, Vinekar A, Maheshwar B, Dogra MR, Eong KGA. Intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) for post-laser photocoagulation anterior segment ischemia in aggressive posterior retinopathy of prematurity. Indian J Ophthalmol 2007;55:317

How to cite this URL:
Sangtam T, Vinekar A, Maheshwar B, Dogra MR, Eong KGA. Intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) for post-laser photocoagulation anterior segment ischemia in aggressive posterior retinopathy of prematurity. Indian J Ophthalmol [serial online] 2007 [cited 2024 Mar 28];55:317. Available from: https://journals.lww.com/ijo/pages/default.aspx/text.asp?2007/55/4/317/33053

Dear Editor,

We read with interest the report by Shah et al . [1] on the use of intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) for a rare post-laser photocoagulation complication in aggressive posterior retinopathy of prematurity. We commend their innovative attempt to salvage the left eye of the baby. We would like to share our thoughts on this report.

  1. The development of neovascularization of iris (NVI) in anterior segment ischemia after "one week" is unlikely. When NVI occurs in anterior segment ischemia, it is usually considered a response to chronic ischemia. [2] In a report of 10 eyes of eight consecutive infants that had clinical signs suggestive of inflammation or an ischemic process after laser ablation for threshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) by Lampert et al . [3] and another report of eight eyes of five patients that were found to have cataract, iris atrophy and hypotony following confluent treatment for threshold ROP by Kaiser, [4] (both reports representing an anterior segment ischemia), none of the patients had developed NVI as early as one week. Could this finding seen by the authors be a part of tunica vasculosa lentis vasculature to begin with which was noted a week after treatment?
  2. Interestingly, the fellow right eye with a similar stage of disease and which received a comparable number of laser burns also developed "NVI" and hazy vitreous. The condition, however, resolved with topical medication alone. We are therefore unsure if the bevacizumab in the left eye was responsible for the "therapeutic effect" and are more inclined to agree with the authors' allusion that it "may have improved spontaneously", which is reasonable after a 10-week period.
  3. We concur with the authors' "caution in the generalization of these findings". Although many reports of the therapeutic benefits of intravitreal bevacizumab in abnormal ocular neovascularization in adult eyes have been reported, in comparing its effects in children, it may do us good to remember that we are dealing with two completely distinct retinas both from a structural and physiological standpoint. While one is "immature" in ROP, the other is "mature" in the adult eye. In ROP, would intravitreal bevacizumab hinder or interfere with the normal vascularization process? While we agree that more research on the use of intravitreal bevacizumab in these immature eyes is warranted, in the meantime, it may serve well for us to be careful not to fall victim to the perils of extrapolation.


 
  References Top

1.
Shah PK, Narendran V, Tawansy KA, Raghuram A, Narendran K. Intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) for post laser anterior segment ischemia in aggressive posterior retinopathy of prematurity. Indian J Ophthalmol 2007;55:75-6.  Back to cited text no. 1
[PUBMED]  [FULLTEXT]  
2.
Apple DJ, Rabb MF. Uvea. In : Apple DJ, Rabb MF, editors. Ocular pathology: Clinical applications and self-assessment. 5 th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 1998. p. 302-3.  Back to cited text no. 2
    
3.
Lampert SR, Capone A Jr, Cingle KA, Drack AV. Cataract and Phthisis Bulbi After Photoablation for Threshold Retinopathy of Prematurity. Am J Ophthalmol 2000;129:585-91.  Back to cited text no. 3
    
4.
Kaiser RS, Trese MT. Iris atrophy, cataracts and hypotony following peripheral ablation for threshold retinopathy of prematurity. Arch Ophthalmol 2001;119:615-7.  Back to cited text no. 4
[PUBMED]  [FULLTEXT]  



This article has been cited by
1 Refractive and biometrical characteristics of children with retinopathy of prematurity who received laser photocoagulation or intravitreal ranibizumab injection
Xiaofeng Lu, Xianlu Zeng, Miaohong Chen, Zixin Fan, Lei Zheng, Ya Tian, Shaochong Zhang, Ji C. He, Guoming Zhang
Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology. 2022;
[Pubmed] | [DOI]
2 Intravitreal ranibizumab monotherapy to treat retinopathy of prematurity zone II, stage 3 with plus disease
Marcel N Menke,Carsten Framme,Mathias Nelle,Markus R Berger,Veit Sturm,Sebastian Wolf
BMC Ophthalmology. 2015; 15(1)
[Pubmed] | [DOI]
3 Bevacizumab (Avastin) for the Treatment of Ocular Disease
Gunther, J.B., Altaweel, M.M.
Survey of Ophthalmology. 2009; 54(3): 372-400
[Pubmed]
4 Bevacizumab (Avastin) for the Treatment of Ocular Disease
Jonathan B. Gunther,Michael M. Altaweel
Survey of Ophthalmology. 2009; 54(3): 372
[Pubmed] | [DOI]



 

Top
 
 
  Search
 
    Similar in PUBMED
   Search Pubmed for
   Search in Google Scholar for
    Access Statistics
    Email Alert *
    Add to My List *
* Registration required (free)  

 
  In this article
References

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed4199    
    Printed97    
    Emailed3    
    PDF Downloaded605    
    Comments [Add]    
    Cited by others 4    

Recommend this journal