Where are we seeing cases of retinoblastoma?

Retinoblastoma has the same incidence everywhere in the world, and affects boys and girls equally. In this video, Ask the Experts' David Abramson, MD, explains how far treatment for this disease has come.

Transcript

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[GENTLE MUSIC] It's equally common in boys and girls. It's the same incidence everywhere in the world--

00:07

in the mountains of the Andes and on the streets of Manhattan. The incidence has not changed throughout time.

00:14

It is the same throughout the world.

00:26

Worldwide, 100 years ago, 100% of children who developed this died. There were no effective treatments.

00:33

There are Incan sculptures I came across when I was lecturing in Peru, where you could clearly

00:40

identify retinoblastoma that was sculpted in ink in children 2000 years ago.

00:47

So the cancer has been around for a long time. But there were no effective treatments.

00:57

As a result of that, we know what happens untreated. And untreated, the cancer grows in the eye. It blinds the children.

01:03

It spreads to the brain and other parts of the body and kills them.

01:09

And it's in both eyes in one out of three children and in one eye in two out of three children.