Retinoblastoma
Retinoblastoma is a rare cancer of the retina. The retina is the innermost layer of the eye, located at the back of the eye, receiving light and images necessary for vision.
About 200 children in the United States are diagnosed with this type of cancer each year.
It mostly occurs in children under the age of 5; the highest incidence of the disease occurs between infancy and age 2. Both males and females are affected equally. Retinoblastoma can occur in either eye; however, in about 25 to 30 percent of the cases, the tumor is present in both eyes. Retinoblastoma cells can, in rare cases, spread (metastasize) to other areas of the body, including the bone marrow.
The inherited form of retinoblastoma, which accounts for about 2 in every 5 cases, is caused by a genetic abnormality. This means that a gene, which suffered a mutation is passed from a parent to his/her child, allowing the tumor to develop. People with this gene, known as the Rb gene, also have an increased risk of developing other types of malignant tumors later in life (including osteosarcoma and breast cancer). Most children with inherited retinoblastoma generally have tumors involving both eyes. (In fact, all cases involving both eyes should be considered hereditary).
In the rest of cases, called sporadic, the mutation appears during the development of the retina. Parents that are unfamiliar with the disease will normally first start to see white blotches in one or both eyes in photographs of the children’s faces. As opposed to Red-eye effect which is normal.
I recommend you to go see a pediatric ophthalmologist every time you see something abnormal in your child eyes. Probably it’s not a retinoblastoma but you can never be too careful with a child’s health.
If a family history is positive for retinoblastoma, frequent eye examinations may be necessary at many stages of the child’s development to determine the presence of any tumor. When retinoblastoma is diagnosed, tests will be performed to determine the size, number, location of the tumors, and if the tumors have spread to the other parts of the body. This is called staging and is an important step toward planning a treatment program.
Specific treatment for retinoblastoma will be determined by your child’s physician. Treatment may include one or more of the following: enucleation (removal of part or all of the eye or eyes involved with the tumor), chemotherapy, laser therapy (uses infrared laser light to precisely destroy the blood vessels surrounding a tumor.), phototherapy – (uses light to destroy the blood vessels that supply the tumor, radiotherapy (generally used as a last resort, radiotherapy was previously the treatment of choice before the above mentioned treatments were developed).
Many children have their treatment as part of a clinical research trial.
Nine out of every ten children with retinoblastoma are cured. Following treatment, the eye specialist will frequently examine your child’s eye to check that the cancer has not come back.
Inherited Diseases and Cancer »An inherited disease is a disease or a disorder that is inherited genetically. They are rare diseases,...
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