New technique holds promise for rare eye cancer

	Tweet

An experimental technique for a rare eye cancer has saved some children from losing their eyes and even restored vision in a few cases, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

After threading a catheter through the body to the eye, doctors delivered a drug directly to retinoblastoma tumors through an artery in the eye. This allowed them to administer a much larger dose of the chemotherapy drug melphalan, made by GlaxoSmithKline under the brand name Alkeran, than is normally given intravenously, they said.

Dr. Pierre Gobin of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, said the technique offers a “tremendous advance” in treating retinoblastoma, which often involves removing the eyes to keep the cancer from spreading. 

"It allows many children to keep their eyes and—in some cases—restores vision,” Gobin said in a statement.

Gobin and colleagues presented his findings at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s annual meeting in Washington.

Retinoblastoma affects 1 in 15,000 children. It forms when developing cells in the retina—the eye’s main light sensor—go haywire and start reproducing out of control.

Gobin and colleagues tested the new technique that involved feeding a catheter up the femoral artery in the leg all the way through the body to the ophthalmic artery feeding the eye and tumor. They then injected the drug right into the tumor site.

They were able to save three-fourths of the eyes in 22 patients they treated, and preserved vision in half of them.

In many patients with advanced tumors, the cancer only affects one eye. For these, removing the tumor allows the child to have fully functional vision. But in children with tumors in both eyes, the treatment might help spare vision for some, they said.

CHICAGO (Reuters)

RELATED STORIES:
Researchers ID behavioral risk factors for head and neck cancers   New robotic head and neck cancer surgery preserves speech, without scarring   Novel Vaccine Curbs Brain Tumor Growth, Increases Survival   Early detection critical in treating pediatric thyroid cancer   Tobacco use linked to worse outcomes in HPV-positive head and neck cancer, U-M study finds   Family History of Brain Tumors Linked to Increased Risk of Brain Cancer   Drug May Slow Spread of Deadly Eye Cancer   Sensitizing tumor response to cancer therapy   Sex virus blamed for rise in head and neck cancers   Personalized gene therapies may increase survival in brain cancer patients   Acupuncture Reduces Pain and Dysfunction in Head and Neck Cancer Patients After Neck Dissection   Ten Minutes That Could Save Your Life   IMRT improves outcomes in patients with extranodal lymphoma of the head and neck   Researchers Identify Best Treatments for Long-Term Survival in Brain Tumor Patients   Some brain tumors mimic the genetic program of germline cells   WHO study has no clear answer on phones and cancer   Rare Head and Neck Cancer Linked to HPV   PET/CT Planning Beneficial for Head and Neck Cancer Patients   Alcohol and cancer: is drinking the new smoking?   Do cell phones increase brain cancer risk?   Brain tumors: New therapy surprisingly successful   Study finds 231 new genes associated with head and neck cancer

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]