Objective: To determine whether earlier treatment of high-risk, prethreshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) improves retinal structural outcome at 2 years of age. Methods: Infants with bilateral high-risk prethreshold ROP had one eye randomly assigned to treatment with peripheral retinal ablation. The fellow eye was managed conventionally, and either treated at threshold ROP or observed if threshold was never reached. In patients with asymmetrical disease, the highrisk, prethreshold eye was randomised to earlier treatment or to conventional management. At 2 years of age, children were examined comprehensively by certified ophthalmologists to determine structural outcomes for their eyes. For the purposes of this study, an unfavourable structural outcome was defined as (1) a posterior retinal fold involving the macula, (2) a retinal detachment involving the macula or (3) retrolental tissue or ''mass'' obscuring the view of the posterior pole. Results of the 2-year examination were compared with those from the 9 months examination. Results: Data were available on 339 of 374 (90.6%) surviving children. Unfavourable structural outcomes were reduced from 15.4% in conventionally managed eyes to 9.1% in earlier-treated eyes (p = 0.002) at 2 years of age. Ophthalmic side effects (excluding retinal structure) from the ROP or its treatment were similar in the earlier-treated eyes and the conventionally managed eyes. Conclusion:The benefit of earlier treatment of high-risk prethreshold ROP on retinal structure endures to 2 years of age, and is not counterbalanced by any known side effect caused by earlier intervention. Earlier treatment improves the chance for long-term favourable retinal structural outcome in eyes with high-risk prethreshold ROP. Long-term follow-up is planned to determine structural and functional outcomes at 6 years of age.T he Early Treatment for Retinopathy Of Prematurity (ETROP) Study showed that retinal ablation for highrisk prethreshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) improved structural and functional outcomes, compared with conventional management, when infants were examined at 9 months' corrected age. 1 The study randomised infants who had both prethreshold disease and a risk for unfavourable structural outcome >15%. 2However, eyes of infants may change over time.3 Myopia, strabismus and late retinal detachments all increase in frequency in the months and years after successful treatment of ROP.3 4 In the Cryotherapy for Retinopathy of Prematurity (CRYO-ROP) Study, a wide distribution of optotype acuities developed after successful treatment, with 75% showing acuities worse than 20/40 when children reached 10 and 15 years of age.3 5 Time will tell whether the ETROP cohort will show the same distribution of functional outcomes as occurred in the CRYO-ROP Study.In the CRYO-ROP Study, only a few infants had threshold disease in zone I, 6 but in the ETROP Study, 40% of all randomised children had zone I disease. This group of children may be particularly vulnerable to complications of myopia, stra...

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A benign sacrococcygeal teratoma was resected from an infant at birth. Four weeks later, intraocular tumors were identified in the right eye. The eye expanded in size and was removed at 16 weeks. A benign cystic intraocular teratoma was identified.

Over the course of the past decade, The Eye and The Chip world congress on visual neuro-prosthetic devices has become a premier meeting for those who believe that 'artificial' vision will one day be used to improve the quality of life of visually impaired patients. Although substantial progress has been made, there are numerous unresolved issues, like the preferred methods for wireless communication, placement of devices, and materials and design among others.The Eye and The Chip meeting of 2008, held in Detroit on 12–14 June 2008, provided important new information about these and other important topics, and thus served to advance this field of scientific research. From a research seedling a decade ago to the crowd of superb presentations in Detroit last June, a very real sense of justifiable optimism has developed. The prospects of artificial vision are no longer remote. Many of the researchers expressed confidence that implantable devices will provide the hoped-for level of vision to justify their widespread use in the future. The often dramatic successes of cochlear implants continues to provide credence that artificial stimulation of nerve tissue is a plausible strategy to restore vision.The Eye and The Chip 2008 attracted researchers from four continents (North America, Europe, Asia and Australia). The meeting also benefited from the attendance and presentations by representatives of the FDA, who have been present for all The Eye and The Chip meetings. The 2008 meeting was also enhanced by the inclusion of a new and related scientific field that shares the goal of restoring vision to the blind—the field of molecular restoration of retinal function by insertion of channelrhodopsin.Just as the field of ophthalmology went from Ridley's primitive intraocular lens replacement to implants useful in virtually every cataract patient in one surgeon's clinical lifetime, the field of retinal prostheses seems to be following a very similar trajectory. Likewise, the field of visual prosthetics continues to amass evidence that suggests that its long-term future is promising.We are grateful to the scientists who made the congress a success, to the Journal of Neural Engineering for organizing this special issue, to the financial supporters who made the congress possible and to the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology staff who worked tirelessly and without complaint to bring home a superb congress.We invite you to attend the next The Eye and The Chip meeting, which will be held in 2011.

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