New Concept of Computer-Based Documentation of Retinal Findings in Retinopathy of Prematurity

Background: Pathological findings and clinical course of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) are often documented with hand drawings. The use of software-based standardised symbols for ROP staging leads to improved documentation quality. Methods: We developed graphical symbols for all ROP stages as well as plus disease. All of the symbols were integrated into a java-based application as a particular ROP category of a complete symbol library for retinal changes. The symbols can be placed on a schematic retina with a mouse click. Using anchors each symbol can be individually adapted to the specific finding (size, position, shape). Results: The use of standardised symbols in a software package allows the computer-aided manufacturing of graphically high-quality documentation in affordable time. The distinct assignment of all symbols to the ROP stages prevents misinterpretation and sketchy, illegible hand drawings. Conclusions: The digital documentation of pathological changes of ROP provides an easy, economic and standardised method to record retinal findings.