Ocular oncology in India.

Abstract

The field of Ocular Oncology is bursting with new developments and attracting a broad, worldwide attention. This specialty is focused on a diverse spectrum of ocular tumors, ranging from lymphoma to retinoblastoma to adenoid cystic carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. Major centers have been developed, more are coming, and there is a mounting interest in this fascinating subspecialty of ophthalmology. As you can see, in this issue of the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, our country of India plays a major role in in this headway. For example, retinoblastoma used to be a uniformly fatal disease, but our international achievements over this past century has driven this malignancy to top all other pediatric cancers. Currently, in developed nations, retinoblastoma is the most successfully treated pediatric cancer, with nearly uniform life preservation and often with globe retention. In India, we are reaching high and matching progress with other leading countries. Another example of ocular oncology success is with conjunctival squamous cell carcinoma, a malignancy commonly found in India, that used to be singly managed with surgery after surgery, leaving the surface of the eye scarred and often with vision loss. Progress with topical chemotherapies and interferons has pushed this cancer out of the way, with current outstanding control, often avoiding surgery and using topical medications alone. Ocular oncology does not stand alone. This field requires multidisciplinary teamwork with specialists from pediatric and adult general oncology, radiation oncology, interventional neuroradiology, otolaryngology, neurosurgery, ophthalmic and general pathology, and others. It is truly the interdigitation of these specialties that creates a center of excellence for ocular oncology. Our drive in India is to establish ocular oncology centers to serve the thousands of citizens with various ocular cancers. This is an exhilarating time and we welcome you or your colleagues to join in, read the reports in this issue and learn of the excitement. Several centers already offer established fellowship training. We believe that your interest and your training could contribute to the development of new qualified centers for open access our citizens. This would certainly improve our outcomes and stand as a model for others. We anticipate that we can reach high standards in salvage of life, eye, and vision. In closing, I would like to thank Dr Carol Shields who worked with me as guest co-editor for this special Ocular Oncology issue. Our teamwork is a true example of “partnership” half a world away.