What is Retinoblastoma?

Retinoblastoma is the most common intraocular cancer of childhood and affects approximately 300 children in the United States each year. A modern day medical success story, more than 90% of children can be cured of this cancer by early detection and removal of the affected eye. Unfortunately, some children can have both eyes affected. Whenever possible, eye-cancer specialists try to save a child's eye and preserve vision.

The average age of children with retinoblastoma is 18 months.

"White Pupil"

More than 75% of children are first noted to have a "white-pupil" (which the doctors call leukocoria), or poorly aligned eyes (which the doctors call strabismus), or a red and painful eye (usually due to glaucoma).

Treatment

Retinoblastoma treatment requires the cooperation of an ophthalmic oncologist, pediatric oncologist, and radiation oncologist. Over the last 30 years, treatment has evolved from simple enucleation (removal of the eye), to eye-sparing radiotherapy, and more recently to chemotherapy-based multimodality therapy.

Experimental Protocols
Several experimental protocols are currently being evaluated to use chemotherapy to shrink the retinoblastomas in order to treat them with laser therapy, freezing therapy, and local "plaque" radiotherapy. Where applicable, these techniques are thought to be safer than radiation. Other breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of retinoblastoma are also under investigation. Organizations like Institute for Families and Cycle for Sight are playing important roles in supporting and funding this research. The outlook for families and children suffering from retinoblastoma is better than ever.