[Treatment of retinoblastoma by radioactive cobalt and xenon photocoagulation].

During the years 1961-1975, 50 cases of retinoblastoma in 31 boys and 19 girls from all parts of Poland were under treatment in the Ophthalmological Clinic in Cracow. The ages of the children at the time of diagnosis ranged from a few months to 10 years. The largest group included children between 1 and 3 years. In the majority of patients, neoplasm affected both eyes. The eye with the most advanced changes was enucleated, and the other subjected to treatment if the size of the tumor gave a prognosis of at least partial preservation of vision. In the case of unilateral tumors, treatment was undertaken if the changes were not too advanced. In the patients under treatment, 60Co according to themethod of Stallard and xenon light coagulation was applied. The observation period varied between 0.5 and 15 years. In our work, a correlation was found between the results and the size of the tumors, their localization, and postoperative complications. Our treatments proved successful in 70% (50.0-90.9%) of the cases.