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Early diagnosis, treatment needed for retinoblastoma patients
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Early diagnosis and multifaceted treatment are important for the long-term survival rate of children with retinoblastoma, according to a study.
The retrospective analysis included 684 children (885 eyes) with retinoblastoma; mean age of the patients was 1.91 years. Data were collected from September 2005 to May 2010. Initial symptoms included leucocoria (70.47%), strabismus (12.43%) and decreased visual acuity (6.28%).
Treatment methods included chemotherapy, local treatment, operation, radiotherapy and autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. Earlier-stage patients were more suitable for eye-preservative therapy.
Patients categorized by the International Retinoblastoma Classification scale as having A to C stage retinoblastoma had a higher success rate with saving of the eye (96.69%). D-stage patients were able to select treatment based on the progression of the tumor to determine quality of life. Stage E patients underwent enucleation to prevent recurrence and metastasis, the authors said.
Among the 616 patients with follow-up data, the survival rate was 95.13%.
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