Eye cancer is the term generally used to describe various types of tumours appearing in different parts of the eye. A tumour appears when cells in or around the eye grow in a disorderly manner.
Tumours are of two types - benign and cancerous. Benign tumours can grow but do not spread. On the contrary, cancerous tumours can grow and spread to other parts of the body. A cancerous tumour occurring within the eyeball is known as intraocular (inside the eye) malignancy.
To fully understand what causes eye cancer, you first need to know the risk factors. Anything that amplifies a person’s chance to develop cancer is known as a risk factor. Risk factors may influence cancer development. But they never cause cancer directly.
As a result, people with multiple risk factors may never develop eye cancer. On the other hand, people with no known risk factor can develop cancer in the eyes.
Some risk factors or eye cancer reasons are listed below.
Although the exact reasons for most eye cancers are unknown, scientists have learnt that certain DNA changes can convert cells to cancer. DNA changes that activate oncogenes or deactivate tumour suppressor genes can cause cancer.
Now that you know the reasons for eye cancer let’s dive in deeper to understand the different types of eye cancer.
Intraocular cancer can be classified into mainly seven categories.
Now, let’s proceed with the eye cancer symptoms.
Eye cancer does not usually show early symptoms. In addition, the advanced stage symptoms may also go unnoticed. However, some prominent signs and symptoms of eye cancer are listed below.
Children, on the other hand, have a separate set of eye cancer symptoms.
These are the most notable signs of eye cancer for adults and children. Now that you know how to detect eye cancer, let's learn about its different stages.
Doctors further classify intraocular cancer based on four parameters - T (Tumour), N (Node), M (Metastasis) and G (Grade). They then assign the stage of eye cancer by combining these classifications.
The different stages of intraocular cancer are listed in the table below.
|
Stage |
Tumour Size |
Description and Conditions |
|
Stage I |
Category 1 |
It does not affect other parts of the eye, ciliary body or regional lymph nodes (T1a, N0, M0). |
|
Stage IIA |
Category 1 |
It may or may not affect the ciliary body. It can be with or without extraocular extension (T1b, T1c, T1d). |
|
Stage IIA |
Category 2 |
It does not affect the ciliary body. It has not spread to other body parts or the regional lymph nodes (T2a, N0, M0). |
|
Stage IIB |
Category 2 |
It involves the ciliary body. It has not spread outside the eyeball (T2b, N0, M0). |
|
Stage IIB |
Category 3 |
It has not spread to the ciliary body, regional lymph nodes, eyeball or other body parts (T3a, N0, M0). |
|
Stage IIIA |
Category 2 |
There is an extraocular spread of diameter 5 mm or less with or without affecting the ciliary body. It has not spread to the lymph nodes or other body parts (T2c or T2d, N0, M0). |
|
Stage IIIA |
Category 3 |
It may or may not affect the ciliary body. There may or may not be an extraocular spread of diameter 5 mm or less. It has not spread to the lymph nodes or other body parts (T3b or T3c, N0, M0). |
|
Stage IIIA |
Category 4 |
It does not affect the ciliary body. It has not spread to the lymph nodes or other body parts (T4a, N0, M0). |
|
Stage IIIB |
Category 3 |
It has affected the ciliary body with an extraocular spread. It has not spread to the lymph nodes or other body parts (T3d, N0, M0). |
|
Stage IIIB |
Category 4 |
It may or may not affect the ciliary body. The tumour may or may not have spread outside the eyeball. It has not spread to the regional lymph nodes or other body parts (T4b or T4c, N0, M0). |
|
Stage IIIC |
Category 4 |
It affects the ciliary body and has spread beyond the eyeball. It has not spread to the regional lymph nodes or other body parts (T4d or T4e; N0, M0). |
|
Stage IV |
Any size |
It has spread to the lymph nodes and/or other body parts beyond the eye (any T, N1, M0; or, any T, any N, M1). |
Doctors conduct several tests to diagnose eye cancer and assess how much it has spread in the body. Some tests can help them determine which treatments are going to be most effective. Doctors consider several factors like age and medical condition, suspected type of cancer, signs and symptoms and previous test results before conducting the tests.
Doctors generally conduct these tests to diagnose eye cancer.
Before proceeding with the treatments, doctors recommend an active observation approach based on the diagnosed stage of intraocular cancer. Here, they monitor the patient closely to check if the tumour is growing or spreading aggressively.
Based on the observations, doctors widely follow these eye cancer treatment procedures.
Doctors can surgically remove the tumour along with some adjacent healthy tissue. The widely practised surgical options include:
Doctors can also perform surgery to insert a radioactive disc for internal radiation therapy purposes, also known as brachytherapy.
Surgery for eye cancer causes various side effects like general anaesthesia problems, risk of infection and pain.
In radiation therapy, doctors use high-energy x-rays or other particles to destroy cancer cells. It usually consists of a schedule, i.e., a specific number of treatments provided over a specific time period.
When doctors provide radiation treatment using implants, it is known as internal radiation therapy, plaque therapy, or brachytherapy. Radiation therapy may bring along several side effects. As a result, doctors first recommend other treatments.
In laser therapy, doctors shrink a smaller tumour by applying heat in the form of a laser. It is also known as transpupillary thermotherapy (TTT). Laser therapy comes with potentially lesser side effects than radiation therapy or surgery. Doctors can also perform laser therapy and radiation therapy in tandem.
However, despite enduring the eye cancer treatment cost, recovery is not always possible.
Survival rates provide an idea of the percentage of people with similar types and stages of intraocular cancer surviving a certain period of time since their diagnosis.
They cannot determine how long an individual will live. However, they can provide them with a clearer understanding of their situation.
For example, SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) tracked survival rates of US citizens diagnosed with intraocular cancer from 2009 to 2015. Here are the statistics in terms of localised, regional and distant SEER stages.
|
Stage |
Relative Survival Rate (5 Years) |
|
Localised |
85% |
|
Distant |
13% |
|
Regional |
71% |
|
All stages combined |
82% |
Doctors and scientists have not yet figured out what causes most intraocular cancers. As a result, eye cancer prevention is not possible yet.
However, scientists have discovered a link between sunlight and skin melanomas. So, you can take certain precautions to reduce the risk of developing intraocular cancer. These precautions include limiting sunlight exposure and wearing UV-protected sunglasses.
As per studies, wearing UV-protected sunglasses with over 99% UVA and UVB absorption can protect your eyes. This, in turn, might help bring down the chances of developing intraocular cancer.
Going through all the intricate details presented here, you now have a clearer understanding of eye cancer and the related treatment procedures. You will also be able to minimise the risk of developing this disease with the shared precautions.
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