Intra-arterial chemo promising for intraocular retinoblastoma

(HealthDay)—Intra-arterial chemotherapy appears to be promising for intraocular retinoblastoma, according to a review published online March 17 in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Yacoub A. Yousef, M.D., from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and colleagues conducted a systematic review to summarize the outcomes of intra-arterial chemotherapy. Data were included from 12 publications with discernable nonduplicative information, reporting on 655 patients, 757 eyes, and 2,350 catheterizations.

The researchers found that all reports were single-arm case series, and eight were retrospective. Global salvage was achieved for 66 percent of all eyes across all studies. Chorioretinal atrophy and vascular occlusions were the most common reported toxicities. There were reports of at least 13 children with metastases; seven additional children had metastases after publication. Comparison of disease severity at presentation was complicated by use of four different classification systems. In most studies, visual outcome was not addressed; no study had a comparative group and consequently meta-analysis was not possible

"Intra-arterial chemotherapy is a promising new treatment associated with high rates of globe salvage," the authors write. "However, the literature is limited by the predominance of retrospective case series, absence of comparison groups, short median follow-up, heterogeneous definitions and tumor classifications, and frequent duplicate reporting."