Retinoblastoma at a tertiary level eye centre, Nepal

Introduction: Retinoblastoma is the most common intraocular malignant tumor in children occurring in approximately 1 in 18,000 live births. With early detection and management, lives of many children can be saved, eyes can be preserved and vision can be restored. The study was aimed at finding out the clinical features, methods of management and outcome of the disease in a tertiary eye care centre of institute of medicine in Nepal. Methods: A prospective case series study was done between 2014 -2017 at BP Koirala Lions Centre for Ophthalmic Studies, Institute of medicine, Nepal. The diagnosis of retinoblastoma was made on the basis of history and clinical examination. Additional information was obtained from radiological procedure whenever required. International classification of retinoblastoma (Shields) was used to clinically classify the retinoblastoma lesion and the management depended on the stage of the disease. Results: A total of 36 patients with retinoblastoma fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the study, 23 males and 13 females with sex ratio: 0.57. Median age at diagnosis was 36±13.825 months. In 19.4% of cases the disease was bilateral. Leukocoria, red eye and proptosis were common signs observed in 46.5%, 33.3 % and 16.3% of case respectively. Enucleation and exenteration were the commonest modality of treatment. Six patients died during the course of treatment and during follow up period and 8 patients were lost before one year of follow up. Conclusions: Despite the advances in the field of retinoblastoma, the prognosis still remains poor due to delay in presentation in our centre.