Treatment of retinoblastoma

  Retinoblastoma (RB) is the most common malignant tumor in infants and young children. It occurs in infants and young children under the age of 5 years and can occur in one eye, both eyes, or both. Current treatment modalities are based on the classification of retinoblastoma and include eye removal, chemotherapy, photocoagulation, transpupillary thermotherapy, condensation, scleral patching, and external radiation. Based on the cases of retinoblastoma treated in our hospital in recent years, we shall discuss the treatment feelings of retinoblastoma.  According to the International Intraocular Retinoblastoma Classification (IIRC), the size of the tumor is not the biggest risk factor, which corrects the previous misunderstanding of retinoblastoma. This corrects a great misconception of the previous understanding of retinoblastoma. Instead of seeing a large tumor, only eye removal surgery can be performed, but it depends on whether it is accompanied by vitreous and subretinal implants, and the extent of subretinal fluid and retinal detachment.  Retinoblastoma treatment modalities 1.Eye removal: It is the main modality for early treatment of retinoblastoma and is still the most widely used method for retinoblastoma treatment in developing countries, and is also the preferred treatment modality for retinoblastoma in most hospitals in China. For retinoblastoma classified as group E, including secondary glaucoma, tumor infiltration in the anterior chamber, or suspected tumor invasion of the optic nerve, ophthalmopexy is most often required. Due to the young age of the patient, only the prosthetic eye piece can be placed without a prosthetic seat, and the prosthetic eye piece can be replaced every year to stimulate the development of the orbit, at least until the age of 6 years old before the second stage of prosthetic eye table implantation.  2.External radiation radiotherapy: RB is usually sensitive to radiation therapy, but radiation therapy can kill tumor cells and damage the retina and optic nerve, which can seriously affect vision. In addition, radiotherapy can also cause the orbital bone to be undeveloped, which can seriously affect the patient’s facial appearance in adulthood. In addition, RB after external radiation therapy may recur, often occurring within 1 to 4 years after treatment, while increasing the incidence of induced second malignancies. Therefore, it is only used for intraorbital metastasis of optic neuroblastoma and in cases where there is tumor invasion at the optic nerve break.  3.Laser photocoagulation: It is mainly used for tumors that are smaller in size after the equatorial part (group A and some group B), as well as retinoblastoma of group C or even group D after chemical reduction, and cannot be used for tumors near the macula and large vessels of the optic nerve, which are often treated with argon laser or semiconductor laser.  4.Trans-pupillary thermotherapy: The indications are the same as laser therapy. The advantage is that the penetration rate is strong, and thicker tumors can be treated, in addition, TTT is also beneficial for chemotherapy drugs to penetrate into tumor tissues more effectively and enhance the effect of drugs.  5.Cryotherapy: It is mainly used to treat small tumors in the equatorial part as well as the periphery, especially for the recurrence of subretinal tumor implantation near the serrated edge, cryotherapy is the preferred way. In addition, after chemical reduction of group C or even group D retinoblastoma, we generally use cryotherapy as long as it is not very backward.  7.Scleral dressing radiotherapy: It is usually used to treat tumors with a base <16 mm and thickness <8 mm. About 70% of scleral dressing radiotherapy is used as a follow-up treatment to preserve the eye after previous treatment has failed, especially after failure of external radiation therapy or chemotherapy.  8.Chemical volume reduction method: Chemical volume reduction method is the most important modern means of treating RB by systemic or local application of chemotherapeutic drugs to induce tumor volume reduction. The commonly used chemotherapy drugs are vincristine, etoposide, carboplatin, referred to as VEC program. Chemotherapy alone has a good long-term control effect on the affected eyes in groups A and B, while the long-term control effect on groups C and D is not very satisfactory. To address these problems, the combined application of local treatments based on chemotherapy, including photocoagulation, pupillary warming, cryotherapy or brachytherapy, can effectively control the growth of RB.