Dr. V. VASUMATHY

Abstract

Project Vision on Wheels was started in 2018, to identify the babies in Rural Tamilnadu with Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) by the Neo fundus camera.

Total number of babies screened from June 2018 to December 2021 was 18,117. In 2019, 2020 and 2021, 279, 244 and 351 babies underwent laser. There was a yearly increase in the number of babies with treatable ROP needing laser in the 750-1000 gm category (8%, 11%, 15% and 11 % in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively) and decrease in the >2000 BW category (6%, 7%, 1% and 1% in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively) . These findings of decreasing treatable ROP in bigger and more mature babies and increasing treatable ROP in younger babies, over time can be attributed to the success of a committed screening strategy such as that of project Vision on Wheels. This paper presents the largest data till date (according to MEDLINE search) of ROP detected by Neo in the rural areas in the twin states of Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Full Text