Advancing the Treatments of Retinoblastoma: Stuck in the 1950s

摘要

With advancing age and wisdom, we are often apt to romance the simpler time of our youth. The world was less complicated. We were not hyperstimulated in an era devoid of email, cell phones, and texts. However, survival rates from pediatric cancers, notably retinoblastoma, were much lower. There was no Knudson two-hit hypothesis, RB1 gene, patient-derived orthotopic xeno-grafts, or whole-genome sequencing. However, there was external beam radiation [1], intra-arterial therapy [2], in-travitreal therapy [3], and melphalan [4]. Fast-forward to the present, where advances in science and medicine are improving health care, but with the background force of social media. Our challenge as clinicians and scientists is to assure that science and medicine are kept in parallel with bench-to-bedside research as a feedback loop. The medical treatment we bring to our patients today must be thoroughly evaluated using the research tools that have been made available.