Narayana Nethralaya is concerned over the increasing incidence of eye cancer in the paediatric population where cases come in at an advanced stage of the disease. The key issue is that despite advanced treatment options, early detection is found wanting.

The eye major sees the need for a paediatrician to detect the condition at an early stage and ensure immediate access to treatment. Annually, close to 8,000 fresh cases are diagnosed of eye cancer globally, of which the maximum are from India and China. India caters to around 20 per cent of the total reported patients worldwide and 50 per cent of such eye cancer cases constitute retinoblastoma in children, according to the Ocular Oncology Department, Narayana Nethralaya.

Appropriate treatment is most important and especially for retinoblastoma, a protocol based management is necessary in treatment. If treatment is in good hands, there are very high chances of saving life, said Dr Bhujang Shetty, chairman, Narayana Nethralaya.

Very few eye care hospitals in India have well equipped, qualified and specialists who can handle these critical cases. We have collaborated with international genetic research groups and established a basic Science Genetic Research Lab. This allows us to inform parents plan their pregnancy of the second child in case their first child has been a case of retinoblastoma. Over 90 per cent of retinoblastoma patients are treated free of cost as they belong to low economic strata, he added.

Over the past five years, there is 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 those who access an ocular oncologist are in advanced stages of the disease when it is almost impossible to cure. The tumour would have spread beyond the eye, in most cases the brain. In India, there is no awareness created at all on such crucial issues. Cases can be missed at various stages.

According to Dr Fairooz, Narayana Nethralaya, primary eye cancers can occur at any age, but the risk for most types increases as people get older. The rate of eye melanomas has been fairly stable over the past few decades. Cancers that spread to the eye from another part of the body known as secondary eye cancers are also common. These occur on the eye lid, eye surface and orbit of the eye. Only timely diagnosis, can provide access to advanced treatment using chemotherapy, systematic chemotherapy, intra arterial chemotherapy and intra vitreal chemotherapy.

Eye salvage rate is higher because of these new modalities. When we get such complicated cases at Narayana Nethralaya, we first concentrate on saving life and then saving the vision, he said.