Intraocular Retinoblastoma
Extraocular Retinoblastoma
Recurrent Retinoblastoma

Intraocular Retinoblastoma

If the cancer is in one eye and the tumor is large, treatment is usually enucleation.

If the cancer is in one eye and it is expected that vision can be saved, treatment may include the following:

• Radiation therapy.
• Photocoagulation.
• Cryotherapy.
• Thermotherapy.
• Chemotherapy (chemoreduction).

If the cancer is in both eyes, treatment may include the following:

• Enucleation of the eye with the most cancer, and radiation therapy to the other eye.
• Radiation therapy to both eyes or chemotherapy (chemoreduction) followed by local treatment. This may be done if there is a chance to save vision in both eyes.
• Surgery only, when vision cannot be saved.
• A clinical trial of subtenon chemotherapy combined with systemic chemotherapy and local treatment.

Check for clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with intraocular retinoblastoma.

There is no standard treatment for extraocular retinoblastoma. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy have been used. Treatment may be a clinical trial of high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant. Information about ongoing clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Check for clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with extraocular retinoblastoma.

If the cancer is small and in the eye only, treatment is usually local therapy (enucleation, radiation therapy, cryotherapy, photocoagulation, or thermotherapy).

If the cancer comes back outside of the eye, treatment will depend on many things and may be within a clinical trial. Information about ongoing clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Check for clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with recurrent retinoblastoma.

Back to Top

< Previous Section  |  Next Section >