JOIN USAIIMS has seen a rise in number of children suffering from retinoblastoma, the most common type of eye cancer.
Retinoblastoma has a reported incidence of 1 in 20,000 live births. Over the past five years, there has been a 20 per cent increase in cases of retinoblastoma among children below the age of five years. Of the total cases, around one-third of the children are coming to the hospital at an advanced stage of the disease when it is almost impossible for the doctors to cure the cancer.
“Thirty per cent of the children come to the hospital when the tumour has spread beyond the eye, in most cases the brain. It becomes almost impossible to save these lives,” said Dr Bhawana Chawla, Additional Professor, Dr R P Centre for Opthalmic Sciences, AIIMS.
The cure rate in the West is over 95 per cent. However, in India the cure rate is between 60-70 per cent with a significant number of children reporting the cancer at an advanced stage. Retinoblastoma is a genetic disorder. In most cases, the disease goes undetected till it becomes incurable.
“This is because parents are unable to detect the symptoms early. The most common symptom is a glint in the eye or when the eye looks shiny. The family should immediately get in touch with an eye specialist in that case,” said Dr Chawla. The AIIMS data shows 60 per cent of the patients suffering from this type of cancer are boys and the remaining percentage are girls.
With low awareness level, around 10 per cent patients do not come for follow up at the hospital. AIIMS is holding a public lecture and panel discussion on Friday to raise awareness.