방사선의학 웹진

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Abstract

PURPOSE:

Intraocular retinoblastoma is curable, but survivors with a heritable predisposition are at high risk for second malignancies. Because second malignancies are associated with high mortality, prognostic factors for second malignancy influence long-term overall survival. This study investigates the impact of all types of eye-preserving therapies on long-term survival in the complete German cohort of patients with heritable retinoblastoma.

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

Overall survival, disease staging using international scales, time period of diagnosis, and treatment type were analyzed in the 633 German children treated at the national reference center for heritable retinoblastoma.

RESULTS:

The 5-year overall survival of children diagnosed in Germany with heritable retinoblastoma between 1940 and 2008 was 93.2% (95% CI, 91.2% to 95.1%), but long-term mortality was increased compared with patients with nonheritable disease. Overall survival correlated with tumor staging, and 92% of patients were diagnosed with a favorable tumor stage (International Retinoblastoma Staging System stage 0 or I). Despite a 5-year overall survival of 97.4% (95% CI, 96.0% to 98.8%) in patients with stage 0 or I, only 79.5% (95% CI, 74.2% to 84.8%) of these patients survived 40 years after diagnosis. Long-term overall survival was reduced in children treated with eye-preserving radiotherapy compared with enucleation alone, and adding chemotherapy aggravated this effect.

CONCLUSION:

The benefits of preserving vision must be balanced with the impact of eye-preserving treatments on long-term survival in heritable retinoblastoma, and the genetic background of the patient influences choice of eye-preserving treatment. Germline RB1 genetic analysis is important to identify heritable retinoblastoma among unilateral retinoblastoma cases. Eye-preserving radiotherapy should be carefully considered in patients with germline RB1 mutations. Life-long oncologic follow-up is crucial for all retinoblastoma survivors, and less detrimental eye-preserving therapies must be developed.

Fig 4.

Kaplan-Meier plot of impact of eye-preserving treatment on overall survival in patients with heritable retinoblastoma (International Retinoblastoma Staging System stage 0 or I). Eye-preserving external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT) reduced long-term overall survival in patients with heritable retinoblastoma (n = 566), and additional chemotherapy aggravated this effect significantly. Two patients with unknown information on previous therapy and 14 patients with retinoblastoma as cause of death were excluded from analysis.​ 

Author information​

Temming P1, Arendt M2, Viehmann A2, Eisele L2, Le Guin CH2, Schündeln MM2, Biewald E2, Mäusert J2, Wieland R2, Bornfeld N2, Sauerwein W2, Eggert A2, Lohmann DR2, Jöckel KH2.

1Petra Temming, Marina Arendt, Anja Viehmann, Lewin Eisele, Claudia H.D. Le Guin, Michael M. Schündeln, Eva Biewald, Jennifer Mäusert, Regina Wieland, Norbert Bornfeld, Wolfgang Sauerwein, Dietmar R. Lohmann, and Karl-Heinz Jöckel, University Hospital Essen, Essen; Petra Temming, Dietmar R. Lohmann, and Karl-Heinz Jöckel, German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research, Heidelberg; and Angelika Eggert, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. petra.temming@uk-essen.de.

2Petra Temming, Marina Arendt, Anja Viehmann, Lewin Eisele, Claudia H.D. Le Guin, Michael M. Schündeln, Eva Biewald, Jennifer Mäusert, Regina Wieland, Norbert Bornfeld, Wolfgang Sauerwein, Dietmar R. Lohmann, and Karl-Heinz Jöckel, University Hospital Essen, Essen; Petra Temming, Dietmar R. Lohmann, and Karl-Heinz Jöckel, German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research, Heidelberg; and Angelika Eggert, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.