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Intraoperative laser treatments (endolaser) were excluded. Patient demography, indications and types of RLT were recorded and quantified. Comparisons of the expected and observed frequencies used Chi-squared tests.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A total of 685 patients, including 8 cases of bilateral retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) received RLT. The majority of patients (411 cases, 60.0%, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&lt;\u20090.0001) were males. The mean age was 54.1\u2009\u00b1\u200914.1\u2009years, median 56\u2009years. The most common indications for RLT were diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular oedema (DMO) (542 cases, 66.0%), followed by retinal vein occlusion (RVO) (91 cases, 13.3%). Pan-retinal photocoagulation was the most common type of RLT performed (337 cases, 49.2%), followed by modified grid laser (207 cases, 30.2%), sectoral laser (41 cases, 6.0%), and prophylactic laser photocoagulation (33 cases, 4.8%).<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n<jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The majority of patients were within working-age. Common indications for RLT were preventable such as DR, DMO and RVO, indicating need to control systemic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidaemia. Currently, regular RLT is provided only at the national referral hospital in Thimphu, and periodically in the eastern and central RRHs when the retinal specialist visits. There is need to extend the retinal services to the eastern and central RRHs to improve accessibility and patient coverage in these regions challenged with difficult terrain and poor public transport system.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12886-020-01675-8","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,8]],"date-time":"2020-10-08T13:03:14Z","timestamp":1602162194000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Retinal laser services in Bhutan: a 3-year national survey"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0748-4581","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bhim B.","family":"Rai","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Michael G.","family":"Morley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pema","family":"Zangmo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Thukten","family":"Tshering","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Abi N.","family":"Khatiwara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Paul S.","family":"Bernstein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4591-3658","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ted","family":"Maddess","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,8]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"1675_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00703328","volume":"156","author":"G Meyer-Schwickerath","year":"1954","unstructured":"Meyer-Schwickerath G. 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