Wadia is the first trust-run hospital to do this procedure, said Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO of Wadia Hospital
MUMBAI, Dec 13 (The CONNECT) – In a first for Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children, a 6-month-old baby boy with eye cancer underwent an artery chemotherapy procedure and doctors saved the infant’s eyes.
Ophthalmic artery chemotherapy is a very specialized procedure done by intervention radiologist. In this procedure, anticancer drug is directly administered to the eye with tumour rather than into the veins, preventing systemic side-effects.
A team headed by Dr Suyash Kulkarni, Head , Interventional Radiology, successfully performed this complicated task and earned the gratitude of the child’s parents.
its 1st ophthalmic artery chemotherapy procedure on a 6-month-old baby boy with eye cancer to save his eyes. The child’s parents from Goregaon, Abhishek Waghe, currently unemployed, and wife Ritika were alarmed when they noticed that their 4 month-old baby Tanish had a squint left eye from 4 months of age. A local doctor asked the couple to approach Wadia Hospital. Dr Himika Gupta, Ocular oncologist, conducted the eye examination under Anaesthesia.
Dr Sangeeta Mudaliar, Head of Haematology- oncology said, Retinoblastoma is a rare type of eye cancer impacting infants and children, under 5 years of age. Signs of this cancer are a white glow in your child’s eye, a squint, a change in vision, no red eye in photographs, or a change in iris colour. Usually, the disease presents as a white reflex in the eye. But in the case of this baby, squint was spotted by the parents and they immediately rushed the baby to the hospital. Eye cancer or Retinoblastoma accounts for about 2% of all cancers in children,
Eye cancer in kids, though rare, need a lot of strategies for optimum treatment.
In Tanish’s case, the hospital for the first time conducted a breakthrough Ophthalmic Artery chemotherapy procedure wherein the anti-cancer drug was directly administered to which eye with the tumour rather than into the veins.
The chemotherapy given in retinoblastoma is usually well tolerated but this baby had many complications after the chemotherapy. Giving further chemotherapy to the baby could lead to side effects. So, it was decided to give him ophthalmic artery chemotherapy. Two cycles of chemotherapy are planned for the baby. The procedure was done in OPD basis and baby is discharged home and doing well.
Though, retinoblastoma is uncommon, if picked up early, it can often be successfully treated. Retinoblastoma could be genetic. “We are happy that Wadia is the first trust-run hospital to do this procedure. This has paved the way for a very advanced form of chemotherapy, which is well-tolerated and avoids side effects,” said Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO of Wadia Hospital.
“We were overjoyed after our baby’s birth. Soon, we noticed the squint and it made us think. We were shocked to know about eye cancer. We are aware of oral, lung, and breast cancer. Eye cancer is an unknown entity to us. We had doubts like will my baby become blind? Vision loss is a permanent disability and this thought was unsettling. How to go about the treatment? “ said Waghe. He thanked Wadia hospital for promptly treating the baby and saving his eyes.
