Seeking best outcomes for patients living with vitreoretinal lymphoma

Vitreoretinal B-cell lymphoma is an intraocular cancer commonly associated with brain and spinal cord lymphoma, which is often fatal. Indeed, if one considers the diffuse large B-cell subset, which is the majority, five-year survival of vitreoretinal lymphoma is approximately 40%. The tumour occurs in all populations across the world, and there is epidemiological evidence that the prevalence is increasing.

Questions abound for laboratory scientists who research the mechanisms of vitreoretinal lymphoma, and for ophthalmologists who diagnose and treat it. Scientists puzzle over the development of a lymphoma inside an organ that lacks formed lymphoid collections: a long-standing, but as yet unproven, hypothesis is that malignant B cells home to the central nervous system in response to chemoattractant molecules...