Abstract

Study Design: It is a retrospective case series from a single ocular oncology and pediatric retina center.
Purpose: To study characteristics of retinoblastoma in pre-term babies and to stress on careful examination during retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) screening.
Methods: A total of 22504 consecutive patients were examined for ROP via tele-screening in 4 years. Patients detected with retinoblastoma were included.
Results: A total of five patients and nine eyes with retinoblastoma detected. Patients were having mean gestational age (34.2 weeks), mean age at retinoblastoma diagnosis (38 days). Group A or B in (n= 8; 89% of eyes) and D in one eye (11%) were noted. After stopping intravenous chemotherapy recurrences were seen in all (n=4, 100%) patients in mean 2.8 months (SD= 0.83) and needed additional therapies.
Conclusion: Retinoblastoma detected in pre-terms is most probably bilateral, having an aggressive course and needs a multimodal approach despite being small tumors.