Purpose: To analyze and compare the anatomical and functional outcome following cryotherapy or laser therapy for ROP.
Methods: Between April 1991 and February 2002, 127 eyes with ROP (65 patients) were treated after threshold ROP was reached. Ten additional eyes with zone I disease were treated with prethreshold. All patients were followed up until a stable retinal situation occurred.
Results: An "unfavorable outcome," as described in the Cryo ROP study, occurred in 1 of 91 (1%) eyes with laser treatment and in 3 of 46 (6.5%) eyes with cryotherapy. Temporal dragging of vessels was noticed in 6 of 91 eyes (6.6%) with laser treatment vs 7 of 46 eyes (15.2%) with cryotherapy, respectively. Visual acuity > or =20/25 was achieved in 39.2% in eyes with laser therapy and in 17.6% with cryotherapy (p<0.05).
Conclusion: A strict screening protocol and treatment at onset of threshold disease results in an excellent anatomical and functional outcome. The results of laser therapy were superior over cryotherapy, indicating that laser treatment is the therapy of choice.