Special features of postoperative long-term follow-up patients with retinopathy of prematurity

Background: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), leading to a high percentage of visual disability, continues to be one of the most complex and unresolved problems of pediatric ophthalmology. Some patients, despite successful surgical treatment and regression of ROP, lose their vision by the age of 25–35 years from the long-term consequences of ROP. That is why patients after surgical treatment of ROP, including those with peripheral chorioretinal dystrophy, need lifelong clinical follow-up in order to on time diagnose reactive conditions in the long-term postoperative period, leading to a significant loss of visual function. Methods: This paper presents a special case of a patient with stage 4 ROP and her long-term clinical and functional outcome. Conclusions: As a result of regular dynamic monitoring of the patient, using modern highly informative research methods, we promptly detected the formation of an exudative component of the macular area, which made it possible to prevent retinal detachment and loss of vision. Strengths of this study: This study presented a clinical case of a patient with ROP and long-term patient follow-up. This shows the importance of long-term monitoring of patients after treatment and the importance of combining treatment methods.