Retinoblastoma

What Is It?Retinoblastoma is a rare cancerous

tumor of the retina. This cancer is only curable if it’s caught early

enough, but around 87% of children who get this disease die. About 97% of the children who live have severe vision loss or could lose one or both

of their eyes.

How Do You Get It?This disease is cause by a mutation in a gene controlling cell

division, which causes cells to grow out of control and become cancerous.

In about half of the cases, this mutation develops in a kid whose family has never had eye cancer. Other times,

however, the mutation is present in a number of family members. If the mutation runs in the family, then there is a 50% chance that the person’s children will also get the

mutation, making them have a high risk of developing the disease as well.

This cancer typically affects kids under the age of 6. It’s most commonly diagnosed in children from 1-2 years of age.

What Does It Do?• One or both eyes can be affected• Blindness may occur in the eye

that’s affected.• You can also get any of the

following:– Crossed eyes– Double vision– Eyes that are not aligned– Eye redness and pain– Poor vision

Signs & Symptoms• Common signs of retinoblastoma include:

-  A white glint or glow in the pupil of one or both eyes in dim lighting- White pupil that shows up in photo- Crossed or eyes that are not aligned

Nervous SystemRetinoblastoma affects the nervous

system because it can impair your vision. It can also affect your brain if

the tumor gets bad enough and spreads, which is also part of the

nervous system.

SpreadingAlthough it’s rare, this tumor can spread to other parts of the body, including the brain,

lungs, and bones. This happens when it spreads to the eye socket by the optic nerve, and then can also go to other parts of your

body.

Treatment• The different treatments depend on the size

and location of the tumor.• Smaller tumors can be treated using laser

surgery or cryotherapy. • Radiation is used for both small tumors and for

larger tumors.• Chemotherapy might be necessary if the

tumor spreads beyond the eye.• The eye could need to be remove (a procedure

known as eucleation) if the tumor doesn’t go away with other treatments. Sometimes, eucleation might be the first treatment.

Treatment Effects

Cryotherapy uses extreme cold to destroy diseased cells. Bleeding may result from the freezing of

tissues, and nerve damage can also occur, impairing the function of the nerves that were

frozen.External beam radiation is most often used for

children with bad cases. It delivers high-powered beams to the area with the tumor. It can cause side

effects to the brain if the beam reaches sensitive areas around the eye. This is why this treatment is

usually reserved for kids with bad cases.

(circulatory system)(nervous system)

(nervous system)