Je. Kingston et al., RESULTS OF COMBINED CHEMOTHERAPY AND RADIOTHERAPY FOR ADVANCED INTRAOCULAR RETINOBLASTOMA, Archives of ophthalmology, 114(11), 1996, pp. 1339-1343
Objective: To determine the visual and anatomical results and survival
after combined chemotherapy and whole eye radiotherapy for patients w
ith bilateral Reese-Ellsworth group V retinoblastoma. Setting: A natio
nal referral center for retinoblastoma. Patients: Fourteen patients wi
th bilateral Reese-Ellsworth group V retinoblastoma seen between March
1, 1989, and April 30, 1995, were treated. Interventions: Patients we
re treated with chemotherapy (using carboplatin, etoposide, and vincri
stine) and whole eye radiotherapy (40-44 Gy in 20-22 equivalent fracti
ons). A medical record review was performed to determine outcomes. Mai
n Outcome Measures: Survival, eye preservation rate, and visual acuity
. Results: Two patients died, 1 from a primitive neuroectodermal tumor
and the other from the meningeal spread of retinoblastoma. Four eyes
were enucleated primarily because of severe disease at presentation. O
f the remaining 20 eyes, 6 required enucleation. The disease recurred
in 4 of those patients, and neovascular glaucoma developed in 2 patien
ts. Of the 12 surviving children, 5 have a visual acuity better than 1
/60 in at least 1 eye. Conclusion: Although most of the treated group
V eyes could be salvaged with chemotherapy plus radiotherapy, the resu
ltant visual acuity was often poor.