StemCell Therapy

A doctor was able to save Ruby's eyes and found a new way to detect an aggressive childhood cancer

LOS ANGELES Retinoblastoma is an aggressive cancer in children that robs them of their sight.

Now doctors have a new way to detect it and that may end up saving the eyesight of children facing a life of blindness.

Ruby Chan was born three months premature.

Three months later she was diagnosed with a life-threatening, sight-stealing disease.

"She wasn't even supposed to be born yet at this point and they were like, we'd like to take her eye out tomorrow," recalled Ruby's mother, Nellie Chan.

Ruby was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a cancer of the eye where tumors develop behind the retina.

There are two main types of retinoblastoma, intraocular and extraocular. Intraocular means that the cancer is in one or both eyes but has not spread to other parts of the body, while extraocular means it has spread.

Instead of having her eye removed, Ruby's parents decided to do their research.

They foundLos Angeles Children's Hospital ocular oncologist Jesse Berry who developed a liquid biopsy for children like Ruby that answers many of the unknowns.

"How likely is it that an eye will respond to therapy and how likely is it that an eye might have continued recurrence even in spite of treatment?" asked Dr. Berry.

Using a needle, a pea-sized amount of liquid is extracted.

"Instead of placing the needle directly into the tumor, we actually extract a very little bit of liquid called the aqueous humor from the front of the eye."

In a research setting only, that liquid is tested for DNA molecules that are shed from the tumor cells.

Doctors can predict with 75% to 85% accuracy if the tumor will respond to standard treatments.

PARENTS, BEWARE:The best detection may be you! When looking at your child's photograph, instead of the typical red eye from flash photography in a child with retinoblastoma, the pupil will appear white.

There has been much research conducted in the past few decades that have led to higher cure rates and fewer side effects.

Researchers have learned that using focal treatments like laser therapy kills tumor cells more precisely. They have begun to examine ways of taking advantage of the gene changes in the cells of retinoblastoma.

Ruby had chemo to reduce the size of the tumors and more than 70 laser procedures to burn the edges of them.

Tumors in Ruby's left eye have not impacted her sight.

The original tumor in Ruby's right eye has left her with 25% of her vision.

With the help of targeted therapies they're hoping to save both of Ruby's eyes.

Children's Hospital Los Angeles is now running a multicenter trial.

Following strict research protocols, surgeons from all over the country can take a sample of the aqueous humor and send it to Dr. Berry and her team for evaluation.

If this story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Jim Mertens atjim.mertens@wqad.comor Marjorie Bekaert Thomas atmthomas@ivanhoe.com.

Original post:
YOUR HEALTH: A cancer that robs children of their sight - WQAD.com

This entry was posted on March 2, 2020 at 2:48 am and is filed under Eye Sight & Vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |