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The Symptoms of Trilateral Retinoblastoma

Trilateral retinoblastoma is a rare form of retinoblastoma, or cancer of the retinal cells, present in the eye. The development of pineal tumors in patients suffering from hereditary form of retinoblastoma is known as trilateral retinoblastoma. This form of cancer is generally more common in children than in adults, although the cause for such occurrence is still not known.

  1. Causes

    • The main cause for the development of trilateral retinoblastoma is the degeneration of chromosome 13, also known as RB 1, present in the body. In the case of trilateral retinoblastoma, the genes present on the chromosome 13 get altered or mutated, which leads to the development of retinoblastoma. This mutated and altered chromosome is in most cases inherited from either of the parents by children suffering from trilateral retinoblastoma. However, the exact reason for such degeneration is still not known.

    Symptoms

    • Leukocoria, or whitening of the pupil, is the most common symptom that is associated with trilateral retinoblastoma. In a normal person, the pupil generally appears red in a photograph taken using the flash. However in patients suffering trilateral retinoblastoma, the pupil generally appears to be white or yellowish when captured on a camera. This yellowish or whitish pupil resembles the eye of a cat--hence, the phenomenon is commonly known as cat's eye.

    Strabismus or Cross Eye

    • Strabismus, commonly known as cross eye, is another symptom that is commonly associated with trilateral retinoblastoma. Strabismus is a medical condition in which the eyes of the patient do not align in a proper manner and the patient generally develops squint in the affected eye, which suffers from improper binocular sight and also has difficulty in depth and distance perception. This condition mainly develops because due to trilateral retinoblastoma, the extraocular muscles of the eye become weak and start lacking coordination, which leads to the condition of strabismus.

    Retinal Tumor

    • Development of a retinal tumor is one of the main symptoms that is associated with trilateral retinoblastoma. This tumor development generally takes place due to the degeneration and degradation of the optic nerves in the eye caused by the development of trilateral retinoblastoma. The exact cause and pathway for such degeneration is still unknown.

    Less Common Symptoms

    • Some of the other less common symptoms that are often seen during trilateral retinoblastoma include redness of the eye, swelling of the affected eye, high fever (rare cases) and loss of vision in the affected eye.

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