The Hindu Business Line : AP to host oncologists' meet

FOUND something unnatural in and around the eyes of a child? You better take a serious note of it and take the child to a doctor, for the unnatural tumour or spot might just be a sign of some serious ocular cancer.

The fact that 1 in 20,000 births globally and 1-8,000 births in Andhra Pradesh record the incidence of some kind of ocular cancer shows the enormity of the problem.

India, which houses 16 per cent of world's population, has the dubious distinction of having 25 per cent of the total eye cancers. The incidence of the disease is very high in just-borns to 5-6 year-olds.

"While it is home for one fourth of the cases, it has got only 5 per cent of world's infrastructure," they regretted.

"Chances of protecting the vision and the child are very high, if we could identify the problem at an early stage," Dr Vijay Anand P. Reddy, a reputed ocular cancer specialist, said.

Dr Santosh G. Honavar, a leading ocular oncologist, said the main reason for the disease was consanguine marriages. "If a child is found with eye cancer, we always advise parents to be on high alert. Because, chances of the second child getting it is very high," he said.

"Statistics also prove that this cancer can be transmitted to the next generation," Dr Honavar said.

"Retinoblastoma is the most common variety of eye cancer in India. Because they are painless tumours, the 1-2 year-olds make no complaints."

Dr Jerry A. Shields, President of International Society of Ocular Oncology, said a handful of specialists were working on the specialty. "It is a unique group," he said.

Dr Carol Shields of the US, who carried out pioneering research in ocular oncology, said her country needed to learn from the Indian experience in this regard.

About 600 ocular oncologists from around the world would meet here for five days beginning Friday at the 11th International Congress of Ocular Oncology, the first to be held outside the West and Israel.

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