Metastatic retinoblastoma at presentation: Clinical presentation, treatment, and outcomes

Abstract

The aim of this study was to retrospectively determine clinical features, treatment outcomes, and overall survival in four patients with metastatic retinoblastoma at presentation. The mean age at diagnosis was 63 months (range: 24-108 months). Three patients had overt orbital disease of at least one eye and one patient had microscopic orbital disease with scleral infiltration on histopathology. Metastatic sites included regional lymph nodes (RLN) (n = 4), bone marrow (BM) (n = 2), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (n = 1). The most common sites of RLN were ipsilateral preauricular nodes (two patients) and contralateral parotid gland involvement (one patient). The treatment administered included primary enucleation (n = 1), high-dose intravenous chemotherapy (n = 4), secondary enucleation (n = 2), orbital external beam radiotherapy (n = 3), and intrathecal chemotherapy (n = 1). High-risk features included massive choroidal and microscopic scleral infiltration in the eye that underwent primary enucleation. At a mean follow-up of 33 months (range, 4-68 months), one patient with CSF involvement deceased in 4 months. The remaining three patients were alive and disease-free at the last mean follow-up period of 43 months (range, 18-68 months). The results of our study showed that RLN and BM metastasis respond well to treatment while CSF metastasis is associated with poor prognosis.

Keywords: Bone marrow; chemotherapy; metastatic; orbital retinoblastoma; retinoblastoma; survival.

Figure 1

(a) Photomicrograph of cerebrospinal fluid cytology showed cluster of atypical round cells; Giemsa satin, ×100, (b and c) photomicrograph of lymph node aspirates showed cellular smear with cluster of atypical round cells against the background of lymphoid cells and hemorrhage; Giemsa stain, ×100 and ×400, (d) photomicrograph of bone marrow aspirate showed cluster of atypical round cells; Giemsa stain, ×400