Ocular malignancy is a rare and highly curable malignancy. India
does not have a proper registry for ocular malignancies but according to
experts it harbours almost 20% of global ocular cancer cases due to its huge
population and the incidence is on the rise. Being a relatively rare cancer and
due to complexity involved in its multimodality treatment approach very few
centres in India are capable of providing the state of the art care for this
disease entity. Common cancers of the eye include retinoblastoma, melanoma,
squamous cell carcinoma, lymphoma, or metastatic cancer from other parts of the
body (secondary ocular cancer). Secondary ocular cancers are more common than
primary ocular cancer. Retinoblastoma is the most common primary ocular cancer
in children whereas melanoma is the most common primary ocular cancer in the
adult. Tata Memorial Hospital registries from 1984-1993 show that peak
incidence of retinoblastoma are in the age group of 0-4 years. The overall
incidence of ocular cancer is 0.4% in male and 0.32% in female.
The field of ocular oncology is spreading its horizon with new
developments and gaining attention worldwide. Many centres have already created
dedicated ocular oncology management group and more are coming up with the same
idea. As a result, cure rate and overall survival have improved significantly
over the years. For example, retinoblastoma was considered a fatal disease
earlier but now with multimodality treatment approach (mainly surgery,
radiotherapy and chemotherapy) it is one of the most successfully treated
pediatric cancer globally. Although according to literature in developing
countries about half of all retinoblastoma cases present late (with
extra-ocular disease) to a tertiary care referral center necessitating the need
for a coordinated approach in the management of ocular malignancies.
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