Early diagnosis key for treating retinoblastoma

World Retinoblastoma Awareness Week is celebrated every year is to create awareness about the most common childhood eye cancer, retinoblastoma. And like every year, L V Prasad Eye Institute will be celebrating the awareness week from May 10 to May 16 to bring the focus of the public on this disease that affects between the age group of 0-5.

Retinoblastoma is the most common type of childhood eye cancer affecting one in 15,000 to 18,000 live births and its causes can be both hereditary and non-hereditary. Dr Swathi Kaliki, consultant ocular oncologist of the institute says, “Tumour in the eye can be removed if the parents diagnose the symptoms early.

It is imperative that the parent or caregiver immediately get their baby’s eyes checked by an eye doctor if they find symptoms like a white reflex (shining eyes), squinting eyes, red or swollen eye without infection, colour change, deterioration of vision.” Kaliki added that over the past decade they have treated more than 1,500 retinoblastoma eye cancer patients, majority of them being children.

Dr P Vijay Anand Reddy, consultant oncologist, said that if the tumour gets bigger they go for chemotherapy; if it’s coming out they have no choice but to remove the affected eye. It all depends on at what stage the patients are receiving the treatment.

Namika from Pakistan said that her child got treated successfully at the institute. Arathi Prajapathi from Maharastra stated, “As we didn’t recognise the baby’s eye symptoms early, it resulted in the removal of her eye, but now she has recuperated.”

Symptons of retinoblastoma

• A white reflex (shining eyes) Squinting eyes
• Red, sore or swollen eye without infection
• A change in colour of the iris
• Deterioration of vision