New drug target for childhood eye tumor

New findings from the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project have helped identify the mechanism that makes the childhood eye tumor retinoblastoma so aggressive.

New procedure aims to save vision of children with eye cancer

An ophthalmologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is implanting radioactive discs in the eyes of children with a rare cancer in an attempt to save their vision and eyes. The treatment for the rare childhood eye cancer, called retinoblastoma, involves implanting a small disc, or plaque, which stays in the eye for three days before a second surgery to remove it.