Daily Times

Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital on Thursday announced that genetic testing was being planned to prevent and control eye cancer in children.

Prof. Dr. Tayyab Afghani, consultant and Head Of Department of Orbit and Oculoplastic Department at Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital said a genetic testing lab was under construction and will start functioning in five months to end this fatal disease.

Pakistan was witnessing a high prevalence of eye cancer in children as compared to neighboring countries, adding the trust had decided to redouble its efforts to combat the menace, he added. Prof. Dr. Tayyab Afghani said that around 700 children with eye cancer were treated annually at various trust facilities. The number was double in its neighboring India as India registered only 2000 children per annum with eye cancer while its population was five times larger than Pakistan.

He informed that genetic testing of parents can help control this occurrence in future generations while genetic tests could be done on a tissue sample removed during a biopsy or surgery. These tests provide information about how likely cancer would be possible in children, he informed. Prof Dr. Tayyab Afghani said timely detection could restore sight while the problem could be more complicated and cause vision loss, loss of the eye, or even total blindness.

Eye cancer should not be taken lightly, and a doctor must be consulted without delay as the number of people with eye cancer was on the rise, he said and added that patients were brought to hospitals only in the final stages.

He said that most children with eye cancer belonged to low-income families living in remote areas, and healthcare facilities were not available to them as specialized eye hospitals were not available in their nearby locations.

Afghani said that some tumors were incurable, while others may severely disfigure eyes, requiring complex surgical procedures.