We have introduced a new treatment for certain patients, in which chemotherapy is injected around the eye instead of being given intravenously. This can be more effective and also avoids some of the side effects of intravenous chemotherapy. This new treatment is discussed in greater detail in the October 1999 issue of the journal Ophthalmology [Abstract].
Our team was the first to use a new laser delivery method known as a diopexy probe, which enables treatment of the cancer by aiming the light through the wall of the eye and not through the pupil.
For those patients whose retinoblastoma has spread to the surface of the brain, our team has had success using a new medication that is delivered directly into the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.
Recently, working in collaboration with physicians from Weill Cornell University Medical Center, our team used a technique known as preimplantation genetic testing in families at risk for having children with inherited retinoblastoma. After fertilizing 20 embryos from one couple using standard in vitro fertilization techniques, doctors tested each embryo for the mutation. Five of the embryos that were found to be free of the mutation were implanted in the mother's womb, resulting in the successful birth of a single, retinoblastoma-free child. The team has since repeated this success with another mother and child.
