Retrolental Fibroplasia in Association with Mental Defect* By

RETROLENTAL fibroplasia is a major cause of blindness in children. It is usually found in premature children; that is to say, in those with a birthweight of under 5j lb (2,500 g.). In the years that followed Terry's original description the incidence of the disease rose steeply and alarmingly. Krause (1955) has estimated that 10,000 children are partly or completely blind from retrolental fibroplasia in the United States of America and that half of all blind children under 7 years of age are blind because of this condition. A vast literature soon grew up around the subject and a great many possible causes for the condition were investigated, but it was not until 1951 that Campbell, in Australia, showed that the condition occurred in premature children who were nutsed in high concentrations of oxygen; when she curtailed the administration of oxygen, no further cases occurred. These findings were shortly confirmed everywhere and the role of oxygen in the production of most of the .cases of retrolental fibroplasia was established beyond doubt. Thus, in the majority of cases, retrolental fibroplasia is a disease of the eyes induced in premature babies by the administration of excessive amounts of oxygen.