Eye Cancer Retinoblastoma Health Video

Last Update: October 23, 2008

Video By: LIVESTRONG.COM

Retinoblastoma is a form of eye cancer that can be deadly. Get expert tips and advice on diagnosing and preventing eye cancer in this video.

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Transcript of this video

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Consult a doctor if you notice whiteness on your pupil
See your doctor to determine the problem with your eye
Follow all of your eye doctor's recommendations

About this Author

Dr. Patel grew up in Texas and studied at the University of Texas at Arlington. In 1996, he graduated as a member of the Gold Key International Optometric Honor Society with a doctor of optometry degree from the University of Houston. Dr. Patel completed a residency in Hospital Based and Geriatric Eye Care at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. During his residency, Dr. Patel served as a clinical instructor to interns from Pacific University and the New England College of Optometry. Dr. Patel has provided hours of clinical procedures workshops for both the Oregon and Alberta, Canada Optometric Associations. He has volunteered his skills on an eye care team in Thailand, and the Special Olympics programs in Oregon. Dr. Patel also serves as a clinical examiner for the National Boards in Optometry, as a consultant to the Portland VA Medical Center, and Adjunct Faculty for the Pacific University College of Optometry.

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DR. RAJ PATEL: Hi. I'm Dr. Raj Patel, optometrist at Vancouver Contact Lens and Vision Clinic here in Vancouver, Washington, and I'd like to talk to you a little bit about a particular type of eye cancer called retinoblastoma. Retinoblastoma is the most common intraocular cancer of childhood and it affects approximately 300 children in the United States each year. Most children can be cured of retinoblastoma by early detection and treatment of the affected eye. Some of the symptoms for retinoblastoma include a very classic white pupil and that's called leukocoria and, occasionally, a misaligned eye called strabismus; those are the more hallmark signs and very classic signs of retinoblastoma. In other cases, the child may have developed a particular type of glaucoma called neovascular glaucoma and if that were to occur, the child will have some pain and so pain might be a complaint. A family history of retinoblastoma can be very important as well. In the average child, when they're first diagnosed of retinoblastoma is about 18 months of age. Some more symptoms of retinoblastoma once again, to hit on that white pupil, that's a really common one, and in fact about 75% of children with retinoblastoma are first noted to have a white pupil and so that's leukocoria. Unfortunately, other eye diseases also some of that white pupil phenomenon and one common entity that can cause that is a congenital cataract. So if you have a child that has a white pupil, make sure and have them looked at by their eye doctor so that they can rule out the possibility of a retinoblastoma versus a congenital cataract. The way the treatment works with retinoblastoma is typically dealt with by a team and it requires the cooperation of the few different individuals, typically an ophthalmic oncologist, a pediatric oncologist, and a radiation therapist, and they work together as a team. Over the last 30 years, the treatments evolved from simple enucleation, which is just a horrible way of treating this which is by removing the eye, to eye sparing radiotherapy and more recently to chemotherapy. So the take home message is that if you have a child that has a sign of a white pupil or a misaligned eye, make sure and seek out some immediate medical care so that your eye doctor can take a look at it and help guide you in the right direction.