MEASUREMENT OF GOLDMANN VISUAL-FIELDS IN OLDER CHILDREN WHO RECEIVED CRYOTHERAPY AS INFANTS FOR THRESHOLD RETINOPATHY OF PREMATURITY

Background: Cryotherapy administered to eyes with severe acute-phase ( threshold) retinopathy of prematurity benefits retinal structure and v isual acuity compared with the natural course of the retinopathy. Obje ctive: To determine the extent of peripheral field abnormalities in ey es with threshold retinopathy of prematurity that had retinal structur e preserved by cryotherapy. Methods: Kinetic perimetry was performed w ith a Goldmann perimeter by masked testers on patients in whom bilater al threshold retinopathy of prematurity developed and who had been ran domly assigned to undergo cryotherapy in one eye and no cryotherapy in the fellow eye. With the V-4-e and-the II-4-e targets, eight meridian s were tested: 0 degrees, 45 degrees, 90 degrees, 135 degrees, 180 deg rees, 225 degrees, 270 degrees, and 315 degrees. The median value of t hree presentations in each meridian was accepted as the extent in that meridian. Results: Fourteen eyes (eight treated and six control) of e ight patients (mean age, 9.9 years; range, 6 to 11 years) had adequate vision to undergo fields testing. Mean (+/-SE) extent of visual field for treated vs control eyes was 36 degrees+/-3 degrees vs 46 degrees/-6 degrees for the II-4-e target and 49 degrees+/-4 degrees vs 59 deg rees+/-6 degrees for the V-4-e target. This difference was consistent across all eight meridians for either target, and repeated-measures an alysis of variance showed that cryotherapy was associated with smaller visual field extent for both target sizes (P=.08). Conclusion: The re sults of this small pilot study suggest that eyes that have retinal st ructure and acuity preserved by cryotherapy for severe acute-phase ret inopathy of prematurity have slightly smaller visual fields than untre ated eyes with severe acute-phase retinopathy of prematurity that had vision preserved.