Ten-year experience with ophthalmic artery chemosurgery: Ocular and recurrence-free survival

To report associations between disease- and treatment-related variables and rates of recurrence-free survival and ocular survival in eyes treated with ophthalmic artery chemosurgery (OAC) for retinoblastoma.

Pre-post study.

All eyes treated with OAC for retinoblastoma at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center between May 2006 and February 2017.

This retrospective review included 452 retinoblastoma eyes treated with OAC. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate recurrence-free survival (RFS), progression-free survival (PFS) and ocular survival (OcS), and Cox regression was used to estimate hazard ratios. Eyes treated in the pre-intravitreous chemotherapy era were analyzed separately from eyes treated in the intravitreal era.

Recurrence-free survival, ocular survival, associations with risk of recurrence.

Disease and treatment characteristics were recorded over a median 23.6 month follow-up. One-year OcS, PFS and RFS were 96% (95% CI 93-99%), 88% (95% CI 88-94%) and 74% (95% CI 67-81%) in the pre-intravitreal era and 96% (95% CI 94-99%), 93% (95% CI 89-96%) and 78% (95% CI 72-83%) in the intravitreal era, respectively. Presence of vitreous seeds was associated with increased risk of recurrence in the pre-intravitreal era but not in the intravitreal era. Longer time interval between OAC sessions was associated with increased risk of recurrence and majority OAC access via the ophthalmic artery was associated with decreased risk of recurrence in both eras.

Approximately a quarter of eyes initially treated with ophthalmic artery chemosurgery develop recurrent disease, with the majority of recurrences within the first year following completion of OAC. Despite this, these eyes have a very good chance of salvage. In eyes with vitreous seeds at presentation, intravitreal injections are useful in minimizing future vitreous recurrence. Eyes that receive the majority of drug infusions via non-ophthalmic artery routes or greater interval between OAC are more likely to recur and might warrant closer monitoring.