View clinical trials related to Retinoblastoma.
Filter by:The aim of the study is to assess the quality of life of children who have been cured of retinoblastoma - a malignant eye tumor. The study is questionnaire-based, and uses standardized quality of life assessment tools.
Retinoblastoma is a childhood cancer which affects the retina of the eye. The retina is the light sensitive layer of tissue that lines the back of the eyeball; sends visual messages through the optic nerve to the brain. When only one eye is affected, this is known as unilateral retinoblastoma and when both eyes are affected, it is called bilateral retinoblastoma. Treatment for retinoblastoma is individualized for each patient and is based on the form and the stage of the disease (inside the eye or has moved outside). The main goal is always to cure the cancer, and save the life of the child. Treatments are also designed with the hope of saving the vision, while completely destroying the tumor. Therapies may involve surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and other treatments called focal treatments. Focal treatments may be laser therapy, freezing, or heat treatments meant to shrink and kill the tumor. In this study, researchers want to investigate how different participants respond to different therapies that are individualized specifically for them. Participants will be divided into three main groups, depending on whether the disease is unilateral or bilateral, and the stage of the disease. One of the main objectives of the study is to investigate how advanced tumors in children with bilateral disease respond to a new combination of chemotherapy with topotecan and vincristine, with G-CSF support. In order to improve results, some children with very advanced disease may receive carboplatin chemotherapy given around the eye at the same time that they receive topotecan by vein. Also, because children with retinoblastoma are diagnosed so early in life and the vision may be significantly impaired, this study will investigate how children develop and how the brain adjusts and compensates for the visual deficits. Finally, this study also investigates the biology of retinoblastoma, in order to understand better how this cancer develops.
Retinoblastoma is an unusual cancer of early childhood involving tumor is both eyes or, in certain circumstances, one eye only. This condition is the result of an abnormal gene which makes both retinas (the back of the eye) vulnerable to develop multiple tumors. Growths in the eye impair vision temporarily or permanently. These tumors are malignant, which means that they can grow within the eye, spread outside of the eye, and be fatal if untreated. Standard therapy for bilateral retinoblastoma includes removal of one eye if vision cannot be save and radiation treatment of either eye in which vision might be saved. Radiation controls tumor growth in the majority of cases. Another standard method is cryotherapy (freezing a tumor to kill it). Chemotherapy (medicines used to kill tumor cells) has been used in the past for tumor in or outside the eye, but is not standard. Hyperthermia, increasing the temperature of a tumor to kill it, is widely performed, and can be done to a retinoblastoma tumor by a laser; this method is not standard. The problem with removal of an eye is that any hope of vision is lost. The problems with radiation include incomplete control of tumor, injury to the eye or surrounding tissue with decreased growth, and that (due to the abnormal retinoblastoma gene) children are very susceptible to develop other tumors, especially in the tissue which was given radiation. The doctors at Children's Memorial Hospital are using a newer form of treatment, including laser hyperthermia, chemotherapy and cryotherapy to decrease retinoblastoma tumors. Some may be controlled indefinitely, reducing the number of eyes that need radiation or removal. OBJECTIVES 1. To find out how well chemotherapy plus cryotherapy and laser hyperthermia work on retinoblastoma tumors. 2. To find out whether vision can be saved and tumors controlled without radiation or removal of the eye.
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as carboplatin, etoposide, and vincristine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Sometimes when chemotherapy is given, it does not stop the growth of tumor cells. The tumor is said to be resistant to chemotherapy. Giving cyclosporine together with chemotherapy may reduce drug resistance and allow the tumor cells to be killed. Cryotherapy kills tumor cells by freezing them. Laser therapy uses light to kill tumor cells. Giving combination chemotherapy together with cyclosporine followed by cryotherapy and/or laser therapy may be an effective treatment for retinoblastoma. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving combination chemotherapy together with cyclosporine followed by cryotherapy and/or laser therapy works in treating patients with newly diagnosed retinoblastoma in both eyes.
This phase III trial is studying how well giving carboplatin and vincristine together with standard local ophthalmic therapy works in treating children with intraocular retinoblastoma. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as carboplatin and vincristine, work in different ways to stop tumor from dividing so they stop growing or die. It is not yet known whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with standard local ophthalmic therapy is effective in treating intraocular retinoblastoma.
Phase III trial to determine the effectiveness of combining systemic chemotherapy and subtenon carboplatin with ophthalmic therapy in treating children who have intraocular retinoblastoma. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as vincristine, carboplatin, and etoposide, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. It is not yet known whether systemic chemotherapy and subtenon (under the conjunctiva of the eye) carboplatin combined with ophthalmic therapy is effective in treating intraocular (within the eyeball) retinoblastoma.
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining chemotherapy with peripheral stem cell transplantation may allow the doctor to give higher doses of chemotherapy drugs and kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of combining chemotherapy with peripheral stem cell transplantation in treating children who have central nervous system cancer.
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of arsenic trioxide in treating children who have advanced neuroblastoma or other solid tumors.
Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Phase I trial to study the effectiveness of flavopiridol in treating children who have relapsed or refractory solid tumors or lymphoma.
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase I trial to study the safety of delivering intrathecal busulfan in children and adolescents who have refractory CNS cancer and to estimate the maximum tolerated dose of this treatment regimen.