Clinical Research Directory

Preterm Infants REtinalMicrovascular Alterations by Means of OCT Angiography

Retinal vascularization in humans develops between the 16th and 36th week of amenorrhea, centrifugally from the papilla. In case of premature birth, the immature retinal periphery is at risk of ischemic damage due to lack of vascular development. Prematurity is often associated with respiratory fragility. It often requires ventilatory assistance in the form of oxygen therapy, invasive (oro-tracheal intubation) or non-invasive, which leads to reflex arteriolar vasoconstriction aggravating the ischemia already present. One may wonder if there are subclinical retinal vascular changes, detectable on Tomographie par Cohérence Optique-Angiography (, that could explain the greater risk of amblyopia and optical correction observed. Tomographie par Cohérence Optique-Angiography is a fast growing technique in retinal vascular pathologies: it is a simple, fast, reliable, non-invasive, injection-free examination, which allows to study in high resolution the retinal vascularization, with a distinct analysis of the retinal plexuses and the choriocapillaris