Stanford University Network for Diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity (SUNDROP): 12-month experience with telemedicine screening

Background/aims: To report the 1-year experience of the Stanford University Network for Diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity (SUNDROP) telemedicine initiative. Methods: Forty-two consecutively enrolled infants who met ROP examination criteria were screened between 1 December 2005 through 30 November 2006 with the RetCam II and evaluated by the SUNDROP reading centre at Stanford University. Nurses obtained five images in each eye. All patients also received a dilated examination by the author within 1 week of discharge from the hospital. Outcomes included referral-warranted disease, need for treatment and anatomical outcomes. Referral-warranted disease was defined as any Early Treatment Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) Disease Type 2 or greater, or any plus disease. A retrospective analysis of 84 eyes, 131 unique examinations and 1315 unique images from the SUNDROP archival data is reported here. Results: In the initial 12-month period, the SUNDROP telemedicine screening initiative had not missed any referral warranted ROP. Calculated sensitivity and specificity was 100% and 95%, respectively. No patient progressed to retinal detachment or other adverse outcomes. Conclusions: The SUNDROP telemedicine screening initiative for ROP has proven to have a high degree of sensitivity and specificity for identification of referral warranted disease. These results indicate that telemedicine may improve accessibility of ROP screening.