Spontaneous Regression Of Retinoblastoma

Abstract

We have reported observations on a group of fourteen enucleated eyes that contained a retrogressed retinoblastoma. In six patients the retinoblastoma was unilateral. The other eight patients had a retrogressed retinoblastoma in one eye with viable tumor in the opposite eye. With one exception, all eyes with retrogressed tumor in the present series were phthisical. The diagnosis of retrogressed retinoblastoma was based principally on the finding of calcified tumor cells in the enucleated eyes. A family history of retinoblastoma and the presence of retinoblastoma in the opposite eye provided confirmatory evidence of the retinoblastoma in some cases. As a result of our observations we feel that in young children all eyes with an endophthalmitis or phthisis bulbi should be suspected of containing a retinoblastoma. The delay in development of the tumor in the second eye in several of our cases indicates the importance of careful and repeated ophthalmoscopic examination.