Derek Lamar Fisher is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Utah Jazz of the NBA. Last week in Salt Lake City, an advanced case of retinoblastoma was diagnosed in Fisher?s 10-month-old daughter, Tatum. Removing the eye is the most common way to remove the tumor.
Intra-arterial chemotherapy – a new procedure to inject a high dose of chemotherapy into the artery that leads to the affected eye. This procedure would help not to remove Tatum’s left eye, and Derek decided to try this new technique – Intra arterial chemotherapy.
Retinoblastoma is a hereditary malignant tumor of the retina, transmitted as a dominant trait and occurring chiefly among infants.
Approximately 1 in 15,000 to 1 in 30,000 infants in Western countries are born with retinoblastoma, making it the most common childhood eye cancer. It is, however, a relatively rare childhood cancer and accounts for approximately 3% of childhood cancers. The American Academy of Ophthalmology estimates that 300?350 cases of retinoblastoma occur in the United States each year.
Retinoblastoma is found mainly in children under the age of five but can occasionally be seen in older children and adults. Retinoblastoma is found in individuals of all ethnic backgrounds and is found equally frequently in males and females. The incidence of bilaterial retinoblastoma in the United States is thought to be slightly higher among black children than among either Caucasian or Asian American children.