Effectiveness of Selective Intra-Arterial Chemotherapy for Patients with Retinoblastoma: A Meta-Analysis

Purpose: Given the high rates of globe survival, Intra-Arterial Chemotherapy (IAC) was regarded as a novel therapeutic approach for Retinoblastoma (Rb) patients with wide application as primary or secondary management globally for retinoblastoma. Methods: In this met-analysis we summarized the most recent evidence regarding the efficacy of IAC in the therapeutic management of retinoblastoma. We conducted systemic search on electronic databases including PubMed, Google scholar, EMBASE, and the Web of Science (WoS) till November 2021 for published studies investigating the efficacy of IAC treatment among patients with Rb. Results: A total of 39 observational studies were eligible for inclusion in this meta-analysis comprising 2604 treated eyes and 3112 patients. The enucleation rate in the selected studies ranged between 0% to 43.7%, with an estimated pooled overall effect size of 0.52 (95%CI: 0.41 to 0.66, p<0.0001). Twenty seven studies (2310 eyes) reported the rate of globe salvage with a range of 30 to 100%.