Cancer Retinoblastoma

Retinoblastoma is a malignant tumor that develops in the retina. Hereditary or not, is caused by a mutation in a gene on chromosome 13. The disease can be congenital or manifest itself in the early years of children's lives and affect both eyes or just one of them.
Treatment
The multidisciplinary treatment of retinoblastoma is established and according to the size, the location of the tumor and whether it is limited or widespread. The first objective is to eradicate the disease and, whenever possible, preserving the eye and vision.
In most cases, retinoblastoma is curable. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy and laser eye care and have shown good results in retinoblastoma. In some cases, unfortunately, it is necessary to resort to enucleation, ie the surgical removal of the eyeball.
Prevention
Not just only the hospital is able to treat cancer RETINOBLASTOMA: these young people and their families need individualized monitoring and multidisciplinary care to help them cope with the disease and treatment.
 Therefore, the necessity and importance of the campaign to encourage early diagnosis of this cancer.
 It's simple: shoot the child with flash (effective means of detecting the ocular tumor). A simple picture of a child's eyes can provide an indication for the diagnosis, since the most common sign is a REFLEX WHITE IN PUPIL (leukocoria (white pupil), also known as "cat's eye") that can be realized with the incidence of light (light emitted by "flash" the camera makes visible tumor) or by observing the picture.
The Erastus Gaertner Hospital, with the support of the Municipal Health systematically promotes cancer prevention campaigns Retinoblastoma, aiming to provide early diagnosis: the disease affects children aged two to three years of age and can cause tumors in the central nervous system and blindness. The advertising media is fundamental to the dissemination of information necessary and essential to clarify the public about the signs of the disease and advise on the providences that should be taken by the family.
The second most common sign is strabismus.
If, when the picture is revealed, the child appears with a white patch in place of the pupil (apple of the eye), the family should immediately seek a specialist.
Unfortunately, the family of about 60% of patients only seek medical care already in advanced degree, unable to preserve vision. If diagnosed at an early stage, treatment can be done in less time, with less chance of complications. In these cases, there is a great opportunity to maintain the vision and life of the patient.
The importance of the campaign is the fact that getting the proper treatment, allows not only cure the disease, but also that the child's eye is preserved. Moreover, according to experts, with early diagnosis is 95% cure.