The following transcript has been edited for clarity:

Hi, I’m Diana V. Do, MD, and welcome to the Retinal Physician video channel. Today I’m joined by Darius M. Moshfeghi, MD, from the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford. Darius, you’re a world expert in retinopathy of prematurity. For the busy retina specialist who is taking care of some pediatric patients and ROP, what are the key take-home points that we should be discussing and thinking about in our clinical practice?

Dr. Moshfeghi: Thank you, Diana. This is a very important question. The key to preventing blindness in ROP is to continue looking at the baby. So when in doubt, bring the baby back and look at him again. That gives you a feel for what Mike Tracy used to referred to as tempo—how much is the disease changing. Today, we have an approved medication in the United States, aflibercept 2 mg (Eylea; Regeneron). Most people are using bevacizumab (Avastin; Genentech) in an off-label fashion. You’ll get a result within 48 hours, typically, with nice regression of the disease. When we’re talking about historically for laser photocoagulation, that would take about 2 weeks. Unlike laser, [anti-VEGF] is not a permanent cure, so you’ve got to remember you want to bring these babies back in around 60 weeks and take a look at them, usually with fluorescein, and see if you're done with them. At that point you can safely hand this baby off to the pediatric ophthalmologist. Looking at the baby closely is going to keep you out of trouble.

Dr. Do: Thank you for those words of wisdom. Retinal Physician appreciates it. RP