1 Perinatal Health Center, Children's Hospital of San Francisco
The conference succeeded in emphasizing the current importance of increased understanding of mutual problems by pediatricians and ophthalmologists. Premature infants with major illnesses can be treated adequately only in optimally manned and fully equipped intensive care units. Current support for these facilities is woefully inadequate. Ophthalmologists must examine every premature baby receiving supplemental oxygen, and the eyes of children born prematurely should be examined regularly for the first 2 years of life.
Participants in the conference agreed that revised recommendations for oxygen administration are highly desirable but that currently available data are insufficient to justify a revision of the present cautious recommendations. A vital need exists for extensive research in these areas, along with the accumulation of considerably more clinical data.
Subsequent meetings of this kind are clearly necessary, and it was suggested that the American Academy of Pediatrics should be invited to participate officially in the next meeting.