Retinoblastoma
Retinoblastoma is a retinal tumor and is the single most important malignancy found among Filipino children. This is the most frequent reason for enucleation among Filipino children.
This is generally seen before 5 years old and 25 % of cases these are bilateral.
Furthermore, the occurrence of retinoblastoma in males and females is equal. Mortality is also equal.
This is a familial condition, and retinoblastoma in both eyes will occur in one-third of all cases and probably transmitted as an autosomal dominant gene.
Single eye or unilateral retinoblastoma occurs twice as frequently as the bilateral type but usually not inherited.
Clinically, the child is brought for check up due to a yellow or white pupillary reflex and in our Textbook of Pediatrics by Dr Fe delMundo , this reflex is called ” amaurotic cat’s eye”. This tumor has 4 stages:
1. Quiescent stage – 6 months to 1 year
2. Glaucomatous stage – with enlargement of the eyeball, pain of the eyes is severe in this stage
3. The stage of extraocular extension
4. Stage of metastasis
The prognosis depends on the stage when treatment is started. For early disease with small accessible tumors, the curability is 80-100%. The survival rate for bilaterally treated cases is 50%. This is for those who have survived 3 years without signs of recurrence. Therefore, early diagnosis is very important.