Treatment of retinoblastoma with cryotherapy.

The authors report their personal experience and review the pertinent literature on cryotherapy in the treatment of selected patients with retinoblastoma. Tumor destruction with cryotherapy can generally be achieved with one or more treatments if the tumor is no greater than 2.5 mm in diameter and 1.0 mm in thickness and the tumor is confined to the sensory retina without seeding into the adjacent vitreous. Cryotherapy generally fails for larger tumors, particularly if there is clinical evidence of vitreous seeding by tumor cells. The authors define their current indications and contraindications for cryotherapy of retinoblastoma.