Eye Cancer

Cancer (Oncology)

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NewYork-Presbyterian Cancer Centers bring together two major programs for diagnosis, treatment, and research on adult and pediatric cancers of the eye and tissues (including muscles and nerves) of the orbit – the bony socket that surrounds the eye.

The Department of Ophthalmology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center is a regional referral center for orbital tumors, screening approximately 100 new cases annually. Its multidisciplinary Skull Base Surgery team, which meets monthly to discuss cases and the latest research, combines the expertise of distinguished ophthalmologists, neurosurgeons, otolaryngology's, plastic surgeons, radiation oncologists, and interventional neuroradiologists to diagnose and treat cancers involving the orbit, brain, and paraorbital sinuses. NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia remains at the forefront of developments in these types of cancers. Its Harkness Eye Institute is a member of the International Orbit Society, a study group that shares information regarding orbital diseases and sponsors multicenter clinical studies.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center is home to one of the world's largest referral centers for ocular tumors, caring for adults and children with various ocular and orbital tumors. Its Ocular Oncology Center has the latest ultrasound equipment for evaluating and measuring melanomas for both diagnosis and treatment planning. The Robert M. Ellsworth Ophthalmic Oncology Center at NewYork- Presbyterian/Weill Cornell is leading the multicenter Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study (COMS), now in its 14th year.

Pediatric Eye Cancers

Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell are members of the national Children's Oncology Group (COG) – a multi-institutional clinical research collaboration that sponsors protocols to treat children diagnosed with common solid orbital malignancies. The Robert M. Ellsworth Ophthalmic Oncology Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell is the longest-running center in the world for the diagnosis and treatment of childhood eye cancer, with particular expertise in retinoblastoma, a rare pediatric cancer. Its team has collaborated with colleagues at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center on a protocol for the management of extraocular disease, which has achieved cure rates as high as 50% among children with metastatic retinoblastoma. The team is continuing to study the use of systemic and periocular chemotherapy for retinoblastoma and has found that periocular carboplatin can reach eye tumors and can be used in addition to systemic chemotherapy for intraocular disease.