PEDIATRICS Vol. 81 No. 2 February 1988, pp. 329-331
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Vitamin E and Retinopathy of Prematurity

LOIS JOHNSON MD1, SORAYA ABBASI MD2, GRAHAM E. QUINN MD3, CHARI OTIS MS4, and FRANK W. BOWEN JR MD5

1 Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
2 University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
3 Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
4 Department of Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia
5 Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia

To the Editor.—

In the 1987 April issue of Pediatrics1 Dr Phelps and colleagues reported the results of their study of prophylactic vitamin E and retinopathy of prematurity and related them to those of other trials. They concluded that the evidence for efficacy of tocopherol in decreasing "severe" retinopathy of prematurity is not convincing and that its use in infants weighing le1,000 g at birth may be contraindicated and even produce death.

With regard to toxicity, the reader needs to be reminded that the fatalities referred to followed administration of high doses of a preparation of IV tocopherol acetate (E-Ferol) which was not subjected to field testing and was not used in any of the clinical trials.