Retinoblastoma Research

Retinoblastoma is a rare cancer of the retina, the light detecting tissue on the inside back of the eye. It is the most common malignant cancer of the eye in children and is usually diagnosed before a child reaches the age of 3.

Treatment of retinoblastoma can include surgery, chemotherapy (given systemically and via other routes), focal therapy (laser and cryotherapy) and radiation depending upon tumor location and severity of the cancer.

Researchers at the Center for Childhood Cancer Research are using modern clinical and technological approaches to improve existing treatment regimens and develop new or alternative therapies to treat children with retinoblastoma. We partner with Wills Eye Institute and Carol Shields, MD, in our retinoblastoma research and treatment.

The efforts of investigators at the CCCR have resulted in:

• Optimization of existing systemic chemotherapies used to treat retinoblastoma
• Development of new strategies to better manage side effects and tolerability issues with systemic chemotherapy for retinoblastoma
• Clinical trials (in partnership with Wills Eye Institute and the Children’s Oncology Group) to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC), a new, non-systemic localized treatment for retinoblastoma
• Investigating the risk of secondary cancers in patients with retinoblastoma (an international collaboration with the IRiSC consortium)
• Investigating the visual outcomes of patients treated for retinoblastoma (a national collaboration with the RIVERBOAT consortium)