Defining Vitreoretinal Lymphoma
- Contents:
Therapeutic issues
Two challenges remain in treating PVRL, with frequent ocular and CNS relapse. 56 – 90% of patients with PVRL eventually develop CNS relapse within 30 months.
Treatment aims to treat intraocular and retinal diseases to restore patients’ visions and lower the number of deaths by reducing the incidence rate of CNS relapse.
A variety of treatment strategies exist, including ocular therapy – such as intravitreal chemotherapy (IVT) and ophthalmic radiation therapy (ORT)-, systemic therapy, and a combination of both. The debate on which treatment strategy should be adopted as the first choice remains. The large number of published studies reflect the efforts the medical teams put into improving the prognosis of patients with PVRL. Large-scale retrospective studies often target patients who received multiple treatments. As a result, the number of subgroups who received similar treatments is lower, thus eventuating in lowered reliability. On the other hand, the few prospective studies that exist are conducted with very limited numbers of patients. Interestingly, the median survival period is longer for patients treated at the time of PVRL diagnosis than the patients treated at CNS relapse.