Treating patients with cancer takes a very comprehensive medical approach. The Emory Eye Center has one of only a few ocular oncology sub-sections in the country in which ocular oncologists and ocular pathologists, together with a number of researchers in other Emory departments, provide comprehensive care to patients with eye cancers.
Eye Center faculty members with specialized training in tumors of the eye and surrounding tissues provide medical, radiation, surgical and laser treatments to patients with ocular melanoma or retinoblastoma (an eye tumor affecting mostly children). To provide further care for these patients, our oculoplastic surgeons perform reconstructive surgery for eye structures damaged by disease.
Following is some of the major research conducted by the service:
Retinal tumors - Emory’s retina specialists have the latest surgical, laser and medical therapies for adult and pediatric patients with retinal tumors, including retinoblastoma, choroid melanoma and other types of eye malignancies.
Eyelid and orbital malignant tumors - The Eye Center’s oculoplastic specialists provide medical and surgical care of patients with tumors of the eyelids, tear ducts or other structures surrounding the eye. Oncologic care of periocular tumors may be coordinated with other Emory services (including Dermatology, Neurosurgery, and Head and Neck Surgery) or with oncologists at the Winship Cancer Institute.
Pathology - The Eye Center’s ocular pathologists serve as a liaison between basic science research and clinical care of patients with ocular and periocular malignant tumors. They have been developing and studying a genetically engineered mouse model of eye melanoma to determine the best course of treatment.
Drug delivery systems - Eye Center basic scientists and ophthalmologists are developing methods of introducing drugs directly into the eye to treat ocular tumors. Using a special gel, they have developed methods that can deliver drugs through the sclera that will be effective for as much as several weeks at a time. This technique may be used specifically for infants and children with retinoblastoma (a blinding tumor of the retina) to deliver anti-cancer drugs directly to the tumor rather than infusing it through the bloodstream.
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