New Treatment for Rare Eye Cancer


Ophthalmologists in America are trialling a radical new procedure to treat a rare form of children’s eye cancer. Using “plaque treatment”, ophthalmologists are now able to implant small radioactive disks under the surface of the eye to chemically treat the rare eye cancer retinoblastoma. The cancer often causes the development of potentially blinding tumours in the retinas of both eyes and children diagnosed with the condition often face the prospect of completely losing their sight. Dr J William Harbour, an ophthalmologist currently using the procedure, claims that the procedure “gives us an option that may allow us to save the eyes of a young child”.

The rare eye cancer is thought to affect up to 1 in every 20,000 children worldwide and is commonly treated by using chemotherapy combined with laser and freezing treatments. However up to 40% of children suffering from the eye disease can go on to develop life-threatening tumours in both eyes. Successful treatment of these cancerous tumours could risk their being completely blind for the rest of their life. This is a situation that ophthalmologists are now hoping to avoid by implanting plaques carrying radioactive seeds, to treat the eye in more complex and difficult cases.

Radioactive seeds present on the implanted plaque stops cancer cells from multiplying and also causes the cancer cells to die off. The plaques are left in the eye for up to 3 days and are then surgically removed. A similar treatment method is commonly used to successfully treat eye cancer in adults. However this is a new and groundbreaking treatment in children that seems to have similarly positive results.

16th April 2010

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