1986 Volume 27 Issue 3 Pages 420-425
From January 1978 to June 1985, 75 children with acute leukemia (63 acute lymphocytic leukemia and 12 acute non-lymphocytic leukemia) were treated at Sapporo National Hospital. Eye involvement due to leukemia cells was detected in 6 children, 5 had ALL and 1 had acute monocytic leukemia. Six cases were reported in this paper. As a first manifestation, impaired vision, color blindness, photophobia and eye pain were observed. Most cases involved bone marrow relapse or meningeal leukemia at the time of ocular abnormality. All patients received prophylactic cranial radiotherapy or high dose methotrexate therapy except for a case of AMoL. Radiotherapy had beneficial effects on the ocular manifestations of leukemia.
It was impossible to establish whether or not the eye should be excluded from the field of cranial radiation. Further studies on this point and on the most appropriate dose of cranial radiation are needed.
