Effectiveness of Intra-Arterial Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Intraocular Retinoblastoma: Relevance of a Multidisciplinary Setting

Guilherme Castela; Joana Providência; Madalena Monteiro; Bárbara Oliveiros; Sónia Silva; Manuel Brito; Egídio Machado; Joaquim Neto Murta; Miguel Castelo-Branco; Zélia Correa

doi:10.2147/OPTH.S398488

Effectiveness of Intra-Arterial Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Intraocular Retinoblastoma: Relevance of a Multidisciplinary Setting

Clin Ophthalmol. 2023 Feb 2:17:487-496. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S398488. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Guilherme Castela^{1

2

3}, Joana Providência^{1

2}, Madalena Monteiro¹, Bárbara Oliveiros², Sónia Silva⁴, Manuel Brito⁴, Egídio Machado⁵, Joaquim Neto Murta^{1

2}, Miguel Castelo-Branco^#^{2

3}, Zélia Correa^#⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
² Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra (FMUC), Coimbra, Portugal.
³ Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT), Coimbra, Portugal.
⁴ Department of Pediatric Oncology, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
⁵ Department of Medical Imaging, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
⁶ University of Miami, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, FL, USA.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: We aim to report about effectiveness and safety in the context of our centers' setting in the management of retinoblastoma with intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC) in a 5-year retrospective analysis of the Portuguese population.

Patients and methods: Retrospective analysis of consecutive cases of retinoblastoma selected to initiate IAC between 2015 and 2020, at the Portuguese National Reference Center. All included patients underwent complete ophthalmological evaluation under anesthesia with fundus photography. Diagnosis and classification of retinoblastoma was made according to the International Classification of Intraocular Retinoblastoma (ICRB). The patients were further divided into two groups: Group I for primary IAC and Group II for secondary IAC. Tumor recurrence or relapses, systemic metastasis and deaths were documented. Main efficacy outcome included ocular salvage and recurrence-free survival rates estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Results: Twenty-eight eyes (19 eyes included in Group I and 9 eyes included in Group II) were eligible and a total of 130 IAC procedures were performed, with a median number of sessions of 4 (range 1-8) for each treated eye, during a median follow-up of 21 months (range 4-64). Of the included eyes, 22 (78.6%) were preserved. An overall survival of 100% was achieved. Considering the preserved eyes, the overall median decimal visual acuity achieved at the last visit was 0.15 (range 0.02-0.8). Three patients had permanent adverse events related to IAC (cataract, vitreous hemorrhage and choroidal ischemia). Considering the survival analysis of recurrence, the mean survival without recurrence was 84.2% for Group I and 66.7% for Group II, and the mean survival without enucleation was 78.6% (no events in Group II).

Conclusion: IAC has been shown to be an effective and safe treatment for children with intraocular retinoblastoma. This study demonstrates that IAC is effective even in moderate sample sizes, when a multidisciplinary approach is available.

Keywords: intra-arterial chemotherapy; ocular oncology; pediatric oncology; retinoblastoma.

Grants and funding

This project was supported by the Portuguese national funding agency for science, research and technology (FCT) (UID/4950/2020).