Table 3.

Prognosis of retinopathy of prematurity after ETROP study and in the anti-VEGF era

Recommendation	Severity of ROP	Management	Prognosis
Wait and see	Mild ROP (type 2 ROP)	No treatment	Spontaneous regression
			Retinal abnormalities, even at old age [99,101]
Requiring treatment	Severe ROP (type 1 ROP)	Laser photocoagulation	34.6%, 14.3% 26.4%, and 15.7% achieved VA of 20/40 or better, worse than 20/40 and better than or equal to 20/60, worse than 20/60 and better than 20/200, and worse or equal to 20/200 at 6 years of age [103]
			59.2%, 31.7%, and 9.1% achieved normal, below normal, and unfavorable VA at 3 years of age [116]
			Visual impairment (VA of 20/60 or worse, or below the fifth percentile for age) was present in 9.6% at 4–6 years of age [104]
			Need for repeated laser more than one session [117,118]
	AP-ROP	Laser photocoagulation	Long-term visual outcomes are generally poor even after good anatomical success [119,120]
			Progress rapidly to intractable retinal detachment [121]
	Stage 4–5 ROP	Vitrectomy	Long-term visual outcomes are generally poor even after good anatomical success [85,105,122]
(Not established)		Anti-VEGF	Late recurrences occurred between postmenstrual age 45–55 weeks, up to 64.9 weeks (→longer follow-up until 65 weeks is recommended) [70]
			Retinal fibrosis and need for vitrectomy [123,124]
			Much less induced myopia and astigmatism than laser [76,77,115,125]

ETROP, Early Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; ROP, retinopathy of prematurity; VA, visual acuity; AP-ROP, aggressive posterior ROP.