Cryotherapy for retinoblastoma.
Cryotherapy was applied to 138 intraocular retinoblastoma tumors from 113 patients who were followed up for a mean of 40 months (four to 144 months). Overall, 70% of tumors were cured with cryotherapy and 93% of patients treated with cryotherapy survived. Twenty-one tumors were treated initially with cryotherapy alone, and 20 such tumors were cured. Twenty-seven new tumors appeared in eyes after radiation therapy and of these, 23 were cured with cryotherapy. Thirty-nine tumors were treated with cryotherapy after unsuccessful treatment with external beam irradiation, and 35 were cured with cryotherapy. Twenty-eight patients developed implantation seeds at the vitreous base after external beam irradiation but cryotherapy failed in each of these cases. There were few long-term ocular complications from cryotherapy despite intensive, heavy, and repeated cryotherapy. The limiting factor that determines success of cryotherapy is the size, elevation, and location of the tumor.
D002675:Child, Preschool; D003452:Cryosurgery; D005134:Eye Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000601:surgery; D009366:Neoplasm Seeding; D012175:Retinoblastoma / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies