Abstract
The retinopathy of prematurity (retrolental fibroplasia—RLF) has a unique story in the annals of twentieth century medicine. First described by Terry (1) in the early 1940s, RLF became within a decade the largest single cause of child blindness in the United States and, indeed, a greater cause of child blindness than all other conditions combined. The early and mid-1950s saw the incrimination of oxygen as the principal cause of the disease at that time (2–5). Following the identification of oxygen in the etiology of RLF, a drastic curtailment in oxygen usage was instituted in nurseries throughout the world. A dramatic decrease in incidence and severity of this condition then rapidly followed.
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References
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© 1981 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
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Flower, R.W., Patz, A. (1981). Retinopathy of Prematurity and the Role of Oxygen. In: Gilbert, D.L. (eds) Oxygen and Living Processes. Topics in Environmental Physiology and Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5890-2_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5890-2_17
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
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