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Retinal Examination in Premature Babies

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Digital Teleretinal Screening
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Abstract

The World Health Organization estimates that there are more than 12 million preterm births per year, and the numbers are increasing. A significant proportion of these babies will develop retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and this is a leading cause of blindness in childhood. All high-risk infants would have to undergo retinal examination to detect and prevent this condition. Currently available evidence shows that ROP examination is a painful and distressing procedure for a premature baby. Indirect ophthalmoscopy with dilated pupils has been the mainstay of assessment. In the recent years, wide-angle retinal-contact camera is increasingly being recognised as a reliable option. This device has the ability to acquire images of the retina which can be electronically stored and transferred from a regional centre to a tertiary ophthalmology centre which has the expertise of a paediatric ophthalmologist. Non-contact retinal camera could make the retinal examination less stressful for the babies.

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Correspondence to Yogavijayan Kandasamy .

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Kandasamy, Y. (2012). Retinal Examination in Premature Babies. In: Yogesan, K., Goldschmidt, L., Cuadros, J. (eds) Digital Teleretinal Screening. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25810-7_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25810-7_18

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