Retinoblastoma - current treatment and future direction

Retinoblastoma is the commonest primary ocular malignancy of childhood. There are two forms - heritable and non heritable. Heritable retinoblastoma is a cancer susceptibility syndrome. Presentation is in the first few years of life, sometimes in the neonatal period. Early detection and prompt treatment can give cure rates up to 95% for intraocular tumours, but extraocular disease carries a very high mortality. The diagnosis is essentially clinical and biopsy is contraindicated due to the risk of extraocular spread. Treatment requires significant multidisciplinary input, with local ophthalmic treatment, systemic chemotherapy and external beam or plaque radiotherapy, or surgery to remove the affected eye. Screening of family members is essential for early detection. Lifelong surveillance of mutation carriers is needed due to the risk of second cancers. Newer treatment modalities including intra-arterial chemotherapy have been added to the therapeutic armamentarium in recent years.