Germ cell and other gonadal tumours account for six percent of tumours in children and teenagers. Boys are affected approximately 50 percent more often than girls. Retinoblastoma is a tumour of the retina, the membrane at the back of the eyeball. It represents fewer than two percent of cancers in children and teenagers, but accounts for eight percent of cancers in infants and four percent of cancers in children one to four years of age. Both eyes are affected in 20 to 30 percent of children with retinoblastoma.
Treatment is aimed at destroying the tumour at the back of the eye.
Sometimes the eye must be removed and replaced by an artificial one. Although the survival rate for this cancer is very good, its diagnosis can be traumatic for parents. This is because the child's vision can be threatened or compromised and because, in approximately 40 percent of cases, retinoblastoma results from an inherited abnormality. Children with both eyes affected almost always have the hereditary form of the disease. Genetic counselling for the family is recommended.