What International Patients Should Know About Eye Cancer

Eye cancer treatment in India

The treatment of eye cancer will be based on the type of cancer (such as retinoblastoma, ocular melanoma, lymphoma, or secondary eye cancers), the stage of cancer, and its spread. Treatment is aimed at eliminating or managing the tumor and retaining vision to the extent possible.

Common Types of Eye Cancer

• Retinoblastoma - oral, affects the retina in most cases in children.
• Ocular melanoma - occur the most in adults, developing as a result of pigment cells.
• Primary intraocular lymphoma - associated with immune system, but rare.
• Secondary eye cancer- metastasis of other organs (such as breast or lung).

Treatment Options:

Surgery

• Enucleation- removal of the whole eye (not possible to save vision).
• Resection - only the tumor is excised, but the eye is spared.
• Orbital exenteration – removal of eye and nearby tissues (rare, for advanced cases).

Radiation Therapy

• Plaque brachytherapy- small radioactive disc deposited around the tumor on the eye.
• External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) - controlled radiation rays.
• Proton beam therapy- extremely localized, minimizes healthy tissue damage.

Laser & Cryotherapy

• Laser photocoagulation - kills blood flow to tumor.
• Cryotherapy – freezes and kills cancer cells.

Chemotherapy

• Systemic chemotherapy – drugs through the bloodstream (mainly for retinoblastoma).
• Intra-arterial chemotherapy - drug which is directly injected into artery supplying the eye.
• Intravitreal chemotherapy - a drug that was injected into the eye (in small tumors or relapse).

Targeted Therapy/Immunotherapy

• Applied in the treatment of advanced melanoma or lymphoma.
• May include immunological checkpoint blockers or monoclonal antibodies.

Best hospitals for eye cancer in India

• Artemis Hospital, Gurgaon
• Medanta-The Medicity, Gurgaon
• Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon
• Max Hospital, Saket

Eye cancer specialists in India

Top oncologists for eye cancer in India:

• Dr. Vishal Arora
• Dr. Sameer Kaushal
• Dr. Parul Maheshwari Sharma
• Dr. Anita Sethi

Factors Affecting Cost of eye cancer treatment in India

Eye cancer treatment in India, several important factors contribute significantly to the amount of money a patient or family will pay.

Type of Cancer and Treatment Modality

• Treatment complexity matters significantly. As an example, retinoblastoma can be treated using chemotherapy, laser therapy, cryotherapy, radiation or surgery-each is priced differently.
• There are more complex methods of treatment such as intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC) which may be more expensive.
• The total cost can be increased by cutting-edge procedures like gamma knife therapy.

Hospital Type & Location

• The private hospitals particularly in large cities were more likely to offer higher prices in terms of infrastructure, physician, and high-voltage amenities.
• The city level hospitals (Tier-2 and Tier 3) are becoming able to sustain more cost-efficient treatment options such as systemic chemotherapy and laser-based interventions (particularly retinoblastoma). 

Diagnostic and Follow-up Costs

• The expenses are further compounded by the fact that the patient may need- sophisticated imaging (PET-CT), genetic tests, long hospitalization or more frequent follow-ups- particularly the non-local patient, who may need accommodation or travel aid. 

Logistics & Non-Medical Expenses

• The indirect costs include the cost of travel, wage loss, time spent with caregiver, and food which can be a big expense. One research discovered that indirect costs (such as lost income) are additive to the total cancer care burden.

Pediatric eye cancer treatment in India

Treatment of pediatric eye cancer with a primary emphasis on the most common intraocular cancer in children--retinoblastoma--and current treatment approaches, objectives and innovations.

What Is Pediatric Eye Cancer?

Retinoblastoma, which is the most prevalent, is a pediatric eye cancer which mainly affects children below the age of 5. These symptoms include a white pupil (leukocoria), squint or eye bulging. Early diagnosis has great impact.

Treatment Goals

• Save the child's life.
• Preserve the eye (globe).
• Maintain as much vision as possible.

Main Treatment Modalities:

Systemic Intravenous Chemotherapy (IVC)

• Also referred to as chemoreduction, at times with the use of vincristine, etoposide, and carboplatin (VEC regimen).
• Particularly effective for early-stage (Group A–C) or bilateral disease.
• Nausea, pancytopenia and infrequent ototoxicity or renal toxicity is the side effects.

Intra-Arterial Chemotherapy (IAC)

• Also ophthalmic artery chemosurgery.
• Gives high dose of chemo directly to the eye through its artery and reducing system toxicity.
• Most useful in salvaging eyes in severe disease (Group B-D ).
• Globe salvage rates: up to 100% in Groups B–C, ~94% in Group D, but lower in Group E.

Intravitreal Chemotherapy

• Placed directly into the eye to attack vitreous seeds, a form of the disease that used to be difficult to treat.
• Combined with other treatments, usually following systemic or IAC.

Local Therapies Include:

• Cryotherapy: Freezing tumors, typically for small, anterior lesions.
• Laser photocoagulation and Transpupillary Thermotherapy (TTT): Laser photocoagulation/heat/light is used to ablate tumors, particularly smaller, posterior tumors. TTT plus chemo is highly successful (approximately 86 percent) and has side effects such as lens or optic nerve damage.

Radiation Therapy

• External Beam Radiotherapy (EBRT): This is only applied in uncommon situations when all the previously discussed methods do not work; its side effects are dangerous in the long-term.
• Plaque Brachytherapy: Radioactive disc also placed close to the tumor; this gives localised radiation with minimal side effects.
• Gamma Knife Radiotherapy: non-invasive, single-session precision therapy for resistant cases

Surgery (Enucleation)

• Removal of eye, where the eye cannot be spared or to stop the spread of metastasis.
• Artificial eye prosthesis became generally fixed approximately 6 weeks after the operation.

High-Dose Chemotherapy with Stem Cell Rescue

• Intended to be used in advanced or extraocular disease. Implicates severe chemotherapy and subsequent replacement of the stem cells.

Eye cancer treatment in India with GetWellGo

How this assists in the treatment of eye (Ocular) cancer?

Access to Specialized Oncology Hospitals

• GetWellGo works with leading cancer treatment centers in India including those of large multispecialty hospitals that provide advanced ocular oncology (eye cancer) services. 

Concise Consultation and Treatment Planning

• You will be able to post your eye-cancer medical reports safely and obtain specialist reviews and know possible viable treatment including: chemotherapy, brachytherapy, laser therapy, intra-arterial chemotherapy, or enucleation (depending on the circumstances of the case).

Tailored Cost Estimates

• GetWellGo will give you a full cost estimate based on the specific treatment planned- radiation therapy, enucleation, globe-sparing surgery, or more complicated- operations that depend on variables such as room type and length of stay. 

Logistical Coordination

• They help with the visa processing, accommodations, and transportation in the country- they help to make the journey to the medical facility as easy and carefree as possible. 

No Extra Fees

• Everything, doctor matching to logistics are all offered at no extra charge to you. The GetWellGo network can be competitive rates that are already offered in hospitals.

Why Choose GetWellGo for Eye Cancer Treatment?

GetWellGo is regarded as a leading supplier of healthcare services. We help our foreign clients choose the best treatment locations that suit their needs both financially and medically.

We offer:

• Complete transparency
• Fair costs.
• 24 hour availability.
• Medical E-visas
• Online consultation from recognized Indian experts.
• Assistance in selecting India's top hospitals for Eye Cancer treatment.
• Expert eye cancer specialists with a strong track record of success
• Assistance during and after the course of treatment.
• Language Support
• Travel and Accommodation Services
• Case manager assigned to every patient to provide seamless support in and out of the hospital like appointment booking
• Local SIM Cards
• Currency Exchange
• Arranging Patient’s local food