Neonatal Candidemia Exacerbated the Progression of Retinopathy of Prematurity in an Extremely-Low-Birth-Weight Infant with Persistent Tunica Vasculosa Lentis.

Eyes with threshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) often show dilation of the existing tunica vasculosa lentis (TVL), which is a prognostic factor in ROP screening and treatment, but can be frequently misdiagnosed as true iris neovascularization (NV). Besides, candidemia in preterm infants can aggravate the severity of ROP, possibly to the threshold stage requiring laser treatment. A case of prolonged candidemia without ophthalmic infection in an extremely-low-birth-weight (ELBW) (birth weight: 800 g), pre-term (gestation: 26 weeks) infant with persistent TVL and severe ROP are reported. The threshold ROP was successfully treated with argon laser therapy. Candidemia without eye infection in this case was associated with early use of a systemic antifungal drug. To our knowledge, no similar cases have been reported in the literature.