The Efficacy of Alternate Systemic Intravenous Chemotherapy and Intra-arterial Chemotherapy Approach for Eye Globe Salvage in Retinoblastoma

Purpose: The advances in the treatment of retinoblastoma have enabled salvaging the globe in advanced stages with intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC). We developed a strategy of alternate application of systemic intravenous chemotherapy (IVC) and IAC (referred to as alternate systemic IVC and IAC; ASIAC) to reduce central nervous metastases during IAC and examined its efficacy and safety in eye globe salvage in this study.

Materials And Methods: Between January 2010 and February 2021, 43 eyes of 40 patients received ASIAC treatment for retinoblastoma at the Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University Health System. Their medical records were reviewed retrospectively to evaluate the eye salvage rate (ESR), defined from diagnosis to enucleation. High-risk retinoblastoma was defined as group D or E by the International Classification of Retinoblastoma.

Results: The study enrolled 38 and five cases of high-risk and low-risk retinoblastoma, respectively. In total, 178 IAC and 410 IVC courses were administered, with a median of 4 (interquartile range [IQR], 3.0 to 5.0) IAC and 9 (IQR, 6.0 to 11) IVC courses per eye, respectively. The 5-year ESR was 60.4%±8.7% for the whole cohort, 100% for low-risk retinoblastoma, and 53.6%±9.8% for high-risk retinoblastoma. Among those diagnosed since 2015, the 5-year ESR for high-risk retinoblastoma was 63.5%±14.0%. Fifteen eyes underwent enucleation; no viable tumor was found in three enucleated eyes. There were no deaths in this cohort.

Conclusion: Primary IAC-IVC (i.e., ASIAC) for patients with retinoblastoma was tolerable and effective in salvaging the eye and maintaining survival.