Retinoblastoma Treatment Group
The UIC Retinoblastoma Treatment Group is a multidisciplinary team of specialists who helps treat retinoblastoma, a blinding childhood cancer.
Retinoblastoma arises from immature retinal cells in one or both eyes and can strike from the time a child is in the womb up to five years of age. Retinoblastoma affects approximately 300 children in the United States each year. Although rare, retinoblastoma can spread or metastasize outside of the eye to the brain, the central nervous system, and the bones. Although this cancer is curable if caught early enough, of the children stricken with this disease worldwide, 87%—mostly in developing countries—do not survive. In developed countries, 97% of those who survive have moderate to severe visual impairment.
The cancer can be hereditary or sporadic, involving all the cells of the whole body or only the cells of eye. In the hereditary form, multiple tumors are found in both eyes, while in the non-hereditary form only one eye is affected and by only one tumor. Among children with retinoblastoma, 60% have cancer in one eye while 40% have tumors in both eyes.
Caring for patients with retinoblastoma presents technical and social challenges. The primary goal is always to save the child’s life. The secondary goals include preserving the vision, reducing the toxicity, preserving the ocular appearance and preventing facial deformity. There are a number of different treatment methods available. No one physician can achieve the best treatment alone.
At UIC, Dr. Michael Shapiro heads a vigorous interdisciplinary Retinoblastoma Treatment Group. The team meets regularly to discuss cases and treatment strategies, taking into account the size, location and number of tumors within the eye or eyes, the potential for saving maximum vision and for preserving the child’s facial appearance.
The Retinoblastoma Treatment Group has incorporated new treatment therapies, including neoadjuvant chemotherapy based on MRI studies, an aggressive transpulillary thermotherapy (TTT) protocol, intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for macular recurrent post-chemotherapy macular disease, and subconjunctival carboplatin. Removal of the eye, or enucleation, is still recommended in situations where eyes contain large tumors and where there is no expectation for useful vision. The appearance of infants requiring enucleation is exceptional, thanks to Dr. Mark Duffy, who heads the Occuloplastic Surgery Service.
UIC RETINOBLASTOMA TREATMENT GROUP MEMBERS
Michael Shapiro, MD, Head
Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
UIC Eye Center Vitreoretinal Service
Anesthesiology
Timothy B. McDonald, MD
Bradley A. Fine, MD
Katrina Duque, MD
Helena Briget Gunnerson, MD
Craniofacial Center
David J. Reisberg, DDS, Director
Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Tye Iwahiro, LPN
Pathology
Robert Folberg, MD, Department Head
Pediatrics
Sandy Gooden, RN
Kathleen Keily, RN
Richard J. Labotka, MD
Mary Lou Schmidt, MD
Bruce I. Sharon, MD
Richard T. Dineen, MS
Radiology
Anthony Lujan, PhD
Mahmood F. Mafee, MD Department Head
Arno J. Mundt, MD, Director and Chief of Services
Radiation Oncology
Harold M. Sutton, MD
Surgery
Mark J. Holterman, MD, PhD Division Chief, Pediatric Surgery