Tristen (5 years), Caison (3 years) and Carter (7 months): three brothers, three same diagnoses of retinoblastoma a few months apart. Much like their mother, Angie Rush, who lost her left eye due to the same condition, diagnosed when she was only 6 weeks old, reports the Daily Mail. Asked by an American television channel, she explains that doctors had warned her that she had a 50% risk of transmitting the pathology to her children, but that she did not expect the three to be affected by same time.
A genetic background
Retinoblastoma is a cancer of the cells of the retina, which affects children under the age of 3 in 90% of cases. It occurs in half of the cases in a context of genetic predisposition. It is then the RB1 gene which presents a mutation and induces a very high risk (90%) of developing retinoblastoma, it is indicated on the website of Institut Curie, the reference center for the management of retinoblastoma in France. When a mutation of this gene is identified in a patient, specific consultations are offered in order to test related persons potentially carrying the disease (siblings, cousins, descendants). The objective is to offer ophthalmological surveillance and detect the onset of the disease as early as possible.
Retinoblastoma: a cure rate close to 100%
Remember that the diagnosis of retinoblastoma is based on identified clinical signs: white reflection in the pupil easily identifiable in photos for example, and more rarely by unexplained strabismus. A typical fundus examination is nevertheless necessary to confirm the diagnosis. The precocity of this conditions the implementation of treatments which preserve the vision as well as possible. In France, thanks to the effectiveness of the available treatments, retinoblastoma is very well treated, its survival rate approaching 100%.
