title: Retinoblastoma: saving life with vision.
abstract: Retinoblastoma has gone from >95% mortality to >95% survival in the past 100 years. Once enucleation techniques were perfected, the majority of children survived, but without the eye (or vision in that eye). Over the past 100 years, progressively better techniques have been developed for salvaging vision without sacrificing patient survival. Presently, 99% of children treated at our center survive their cancer, >99% retain at least one eye, and >90% retain normal vision in at least one eye. The introduction of ophthalmic artery chemosurgery has been the most dramatic, non-radiation-based mode to maximally preserve vision.
authors.affiliation: Weill-Cornell Medical College, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10021; email: abramsod@mskcc.org.
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Abramson
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002648:Child; D015353:Eye Enucleation; D006801:Humans; D007261:Infusions, Intra-Arterial / Q000379:methods*; D009880:Ophthalmic Artery; D059351:Organ Sparing Treatments / Q000379:methods*; D011878:Radiotherapy; D019572:Retinal Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D012175:Retinoblastoma / Q000628:therapy*