Presence of cataract in patients treated for retinoblastoma at the national institute of pediatrics in Mexico (2011–2021)

Abstract

The goal of this study is to describe the presence of secondary cataract in patients with retinoblastoma treated at the National Institute of Pediatrics of Mexico (INP) over the past 10 years. This was a single center observational, retrospective and descriptive study. We included all eyes diagnosed with retinoblastoma and cataract between June 2011 and June 2021. In total, 833 records of patients diagnosed with Retinoblastoma at the National Institute of Pediatrics during the period between June 2011 and June 2021 were reviewed. Out of all of them, only 14 developed cataract (1.6%). The median age at retinoblastoma diagnosis was 10.5 months (Rank: 6-13 months), and the median age at cataract diagnosis was 51.5 months (Rank: 25-73 months). The majority (13, 92.9%) of the patients had bilateral involvement. 42% of the eyes were Stage D according to the international classification of retinoblastoma. Cryotherapy was applied in 57.1%, intravitreal chemotherapy in 85.7%, radiation therapy in 42.6%, and only 7.1% of cases were treated with intra-arterial chemotherapy. The presence of cataract in patients with retinoblastoma is a rare but important entity impacting the development of vision in children and detection of intraocular tumors. These probably occur late as a result of the multiple treatments to which the children have been subjected, without being able to determine in this study which is the risk factor most associated with the development of this pathology.