Visual fields in retinoblastoma survivors.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the visual field defects in retinoblastoma survivors and relate those defects to characteristics such as tumor size, tumor location, and treatment modality.

METHODS

Thirty-one patients treated for retinoblastoma were included in this study. Humphrey visual fields were determined in 33 eyes.

RESULTS

Twenty-seven patients (29 eyes, 68 tumors) had sufficient diagnosis and treatment data available for further analysis. Twenty-six of the 27 patients had both absolute and relative visual field defects. Four types of visual field defects were observed and correlated with location of the tumor and therapy to the individual tumors: (1) no residual defect, (2) absolute scotoma, (3) arcuate and sector scotoma, and (4) "pseudo"-visual field defects caused by relative enophthalmos resulting from radiation.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with retinoblastoma demonstrate a variety of long-term visual field defects after treatment for their intraocular disease. Characteristics that determine the size and type of defects are tumor size, tumor location, and treatment method.