Current status of presentation and prognosis of retinoblastoma in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

To determine the current presentation pattern and prognosis of retinoblastoma in Northern Pakistan, we reviewed 26 retinoblastoma cases [13 boys and 13 girls] admitted to the Department of Ophthalmology, Lady Reading Hospital, Postgraduate Medical Institute, Peshawar between April 1985 and November 1988. Of these patients, 25 were children ranging in age from eight months to seven years, and one was a woman of 22. The tumor was unilateral in 15 patients and bilateral in 11. The presenting signs were fungating mass in 10 [38.36%] patients, proptosis in seven [26.92%], leukokoria in five [19.26%], orbital cellulitis in one [3.85%], loss of vision in one [3.85%], strabismus in one [3.85%], and quadriplegia in one [3.85%]. Because of nearly universal late presentation, the mortality rate in our cases was 88.46%, which is similar to retinoblastoma with biopsy proven orbital extension. The only treatment suited for a great majority of our patients was enucleation followed by external beam radiotherapy [EBR]. One female patient's elder sister was known to have suffered from retinoblastoma, but their parents were clinically free of the disease. Finally, although some improvement has been made in the treatment of retinoblastoma, no noticeable progress in public health education regarding this tumor has occurred in the past decade in Pakistan