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Ophthalmology

Research

Ophthalmologists at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital are pursuing research to improve the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders in children.

The Hospital is participating in a 23-center National Eye Institute trial on Early Treatment of Retinopathy of Prematurity. Our physicians have earned national recognition as experts in the telemedicine diagnosis of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and through this study, they are collaborating with physicians from the departments of ophthalmology, neonatology, biomedical informatics and the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, as well as with other academic medical centers.

Collecting information from examinations of over 100 babies with ROP, they have helped to develop the largest dataset of this nature to date.

Every patient in the study received both a traditional ophthalmic exam and diagnosis by a pediatric ophthalmologist and a set of retinal photographs taken by a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurse trained in telemedicine photography. Standardized ROP grading scales make this disease amenable to telemedicine diagnosis. Each set of retinal photographs was read and graded by pediatric retinal specialists from partner institutions in Miami, Los Angeles and Vermont. Our researchers are now comparing the traditional diagnoses to the telemedicine diagnoses, with a goal of determining how well telemedicine interpretations by experts correlate with findings from traditional eye exams.

Other research focuses on:

  • efforts to determine if it is possible to detect any of the proteins associated with adult eye diseases in babies with retinal detachment diseases.
  • investigations into whether the neovascularization drugs used in adults are toxic or beneficial to retina development in newborn mice with an induced condition that mimics ROP.
  • development of treatments for inherited diseases of the retina affecting children and young adults.
  • refractive surgery as part of the treatment of strabismus, also called "wandering eye" or "crossed eyes."

The Division of Pediatric Ophthalmology is also participating in a National Institutes of Health trial on the clinical treatment of children and adults with MELAS (Mitochondrial Encephalopathy, Lactic Acidosis, and Stroke-like episodes). The trial also examines hereditary retinal diseases, retinal pigment cell transplantation, and early development of vision in children.

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Pediatric Ophthalmology
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