J Korean Med Sci.  2002 Dec;17(6):817-822. 10.3346/jkms.2002.17.6.817.

Chemoreduction Followed by Local Therapy and Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Advanced Intraocular Retinoblastoma: A Pilot Study in a Single Center

• Yoo KH
• Sohn WY
• Sung KW
• Jung HL
• Koo HH
• Oh SY
• Kang SW

• KMID: 648794
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2002.17.6.817

Abstract

Intraocular (IO) retinoblastoma (RB) has traditionally been treated with enucleation (ENU) or external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). Recently, clinical trials are in progress to cure RB without ENU or EBRT in order to salvage the globe and to avoid unacceptable side effects of EBRT. We performed a pilot study to treat patients with advanced Reese-Ellsworth (RE) stage IO RB with initial chemotherapy (CRx) followed by local therapy (LT) and adjuvant CRx. Ten eyes (8 RE group V, 2 RE group IV) from 9 patients were enrolled from March 2001 to November 2001. All tumors responded to CRx. In 5 of 10 eyes, the RB was enough to be treated with LT after chemoreduction. One patient who underwent LT is waiting for ENU due to post-cryotherapy complication. For a median follow-up of 13 months (8-16 mo), 4 eyes that received LT and adjuvant CRx were relapse-free. A patient with bilateral RB who failed to be a candidate for LT was rescued with high-dose CRx and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Consequently, by treating patients according to our strategy, we were able to salvage 6 out of 10 eyes without ENU or EBRT. These results suggest that chemoreduction followed by LT and adjuvant CRx might offer the opportunity to salvage the globe and vision even in patients with advanced stage IO RB.

Keyword

Retinoblastoma; Chemoreduction; Local Therapy; Chemotherapy; Adjuvant

MeSH Terms

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/administration & dosage/therapeutic use
*Chemotherapy, Adjuvant
Child, Preschool
Cyclophosphamide/therapeutic use
Epirubicin/therapeutic use
Female
Humans
Infant
Male
Pilot Projects
Retinal Neoplasms/*drug therapy
Retinoblastoma/*drug therapy
Time Factors
Vincristine/therapeutic use