Kathmandu, July 24

Aaju Tamang, 14, of Siraha is getting her right eye operated this week. When she was 14 months old, the centre of her pupil appeared white when the light shone on it. Her parents took her to the hospital and she was diagnosed with retinoblastoma (eye cancer).

Her mother Ambika Shrestha Tamang informed THT that doctors recommended surgery for her right eye so that her left eye could be saved. “We immediately got her eye operated at Nepal Eye Hospital, Tripureswor. Now she can only see with her left eye. We wanted her to see as normal girls do, so we came to Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, Kathmandu, to get her an artificial eye though she wouldn’t be able to see with it,” she said.

Similarly, four-year-old Reli Limbu from Morang had surgery of her right eye and kept an artificial eye yesterday. Aarati Limbu, Reli’s mother, said her daughter was diagnosed with retinoblastoma when she was one-and-a-half-year old.  Along with surgery of the tumor, she had an artificial eye fixed on the right side. This artificial eye seems much larger than her normal eye. Her mother informed that Reli has still not been able to return to school.

Children diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eye, tend to develop and die of second primary cancers in childhood. Infants and two-year-olds have been diagnosed with retinoblastoma.

“One child among 20,000 has been diagnosed with this kind of tumour. Retinoblasty accounts for five per cent of all kinds of cancer diagnosed among children,” said Dr Ben Limbu, Oculoplasty Surgeon at Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology.

He informed that in the hospital 20 to 30 per cent children have been diagnosed with retinoblastoma till now, while 60 to 70 per cent children have to get surgery of the eye. “Retinoblastoma leads to blindness if timely treatment is not given. Not only the eyes, but it also spreads to other parts of the body. If diagnosed timely, it can be treated safely.”

The symptoms of the diseases are appearance of white colour at the centre of the pupil when light is shone on the eye, eyes that appear to be looking in different directions, redness of eye and swelling of eyes.

“Gene mutations that increase the risk of retinoblastoma and other cancers can be passed from parents to children. Hereditary retinoblastoma is passed from parents to children in a DNA, which means only one parent needs a single copy of the mutated gene to pass the increased risk of retinoblastoma on to the children. If one parent carries a mutated gene, each child has fifty per cent chance of inheriting that gene.” Dr Ben said the disease seems to be more prevalent among Muslims and the Tamang Community, where marriage among relatives is practised more than in other communities.