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Save the Date!

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Visionary News Happiness can be found in giving to others

Do You Speak The AJCC_UICC Ophthalmic Oncology Task Force completed its work to create an international language for describing eye cancers. Published by Springer during the fall of 2009, it has already been accepted by most of the major ophthalmic research journals. This work was a combined effort from 46 eye cancer specialists from 11 countries including Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, The Netherlands, Sweden and the United States of America (see page 5). We all owe a debt of gratitude for the support of The American College of Surgeons, the American Joint Committee on Cancer, the International

The EyeCare Foundation is now

The Eye Cancer Foundation Starting January 1st, 2010, ECF will stand for The Eye Cancer Foundation. This change enables of us to focus on eye cancer and better reflects the interests of our volunteer board of directors, board of trustees and our newly expanded scientific advisory board.

The Eye Cancer Foundation is an educational and supportive resource for eye cancer patients, their families, and physicians. Our mission is two-fold; one part focused on multi-centered research of new diagnostic treatments for eye cancer research, the other focused on providing much needed patient support services.

ARVO - Florida May 2nd-6th, 2010

We will present many ECF supported research studies!

WOC - Berlin June 5th-9th, 2010 We will present a symposium on the use of the AJCC-UICC Language.

ECF Lunch - NYC TBA

Call to find out about our annual patient get together and support group.

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SPRING 2010 THE EYE CANCER FOUNDATION

Cambridge University Over 800 years ago, this center of higher education was constructed by those who sought to leave this world a little better than they found it. In September of 2009, researchers supported by The Eye Cancer Foundation, came from all over the world to share their vision for ophthalmic oncology

at the ICOO (International Congress for Ophthalmic Oncology).

Robert Raut, MD at the ICOO 2009 Cambridge, UK: Dr. Robert Raut of Montreal Canada, presents cutting edge research describing the use of total body PET/CT imaging to screen for metastasis in patients with choroidal melanoma. Supported by The Eye Cancer Foundation, he presents the largest series of screened patients to the world’s community of ophthalmic oncologists.

Sri Bhargava Natesh, MBBS Sribhargava Natesh is currently working as a retinal consultant and Neuro-ophthalmologist at Narayana Nethralaya Super Specialty Eye Hospital, Bangalore India. He is involved in management of intraocular tumors. In 2009 he completed a fellowship at The New York Eye Cancer Center, funded by the International Council of Ophthalmologists (ICO).

Ekaterina Semenova, MD A 2009 ICO Fellow, Dr. Semenova has published her work on cytology for squamous conjunctival tumors in the American Journal of Ophthalmology and novel FAF-imaging techniques for cancer related retinopathy.

A native of Siberia, Dr. Semenova is currently caring for eye cancer patients and performing research in Moscow’s Helmholtz Research Institute of Eye Disease.

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SPRING 2010 THE EYE CANCER FOUNDATION

Spreading the Word: The Eye Cancer Foundation Distributes 200 AJCC Manuals Around the World

Starting at the 2009 International Congress of Ophthalmic Oncology (ICOO), representatives of The Eye Cancer Foundation began a process to encourage international clinical acceptance of the unified TNM-based AJCC-UICC eye cancer staging system

This involves several initiatives. First, the ICOO recognized that the AJCC-UICC Ophthalmic Oncology Task Force represents the largest multinational collaboration of eye cancer specialists.

Second, we gained support from the major ophthalmic journals (The Archives of Ophthalmology, The American Journal of

Ophthalmology, the British Journal of Ophthalmology and the journal of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and continue to ask others to join.

Then, with the help of the publisher (Springer) we purchased and distributed over 200 copies of the AJCC manual throughout the world. In this we recognized that many areas of the world might not be aware of or able to purchase this work. For this, we have received many appreciative notes of appreciation. We in turn, thank you for your support.

One such note was sent from Nepal as seen below:

Dr. A.S. Karthikeyan Lumbini Eye Institute

Shree Rana Ambika Shah Eye Hospital Siddarthanagar, Rupandehi, Bhairahawa

Nepal Your gift came at a right time as I am developing Retinoblastoma services together with our regional cancer Institute in Nepal. Dr. Karthikeyan completed a fellowship at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, U.K for Retinoblastoma Management through an award by Royal college of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow Sponsored by the Davies Foundation. The Lumbini Eye institute is located in Bhairahawa at Lumbini Zone, the birthplace of Lord Buddha in Nepal. My Institute is also very close to the Indian border and we see many children with Retinoblastoma. I once again sincerely thank you for this precious gift.

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SPRING 2010 THE EYE CANCER FOUNDATION

ECF Research News Lucentis for Radiation Maculopathy In a study sponsored by Roche-Genentech, Eye Cancer Foundation researchers at The New York Eye Cancer Center are the first to report that the anti-VEGF drug Lucentis can be used to improve vision in patients affected by radiation-related retinal damage. This work was published in prestigious Archives of Ophthalmology.

Retinoblastoma This year, The Eye Cancer Foundation made posters available “for free” to hospitals, clinics and offices that see children with retinoblastoma. All they have to do is go to http://eyecancerfoundation.net/news.htm and download and print them for their center. While you are there, download the free coloring book, “Joey’s Special Eye” too!

Choroidal Melanoma Co-sponsored by Theragenics and The Eye Cancer Foundation, 23 coworkers from 4 hospitals published their 18-year experience with palladium-103 ophthalmic plaque radiation therapy for choroidal melanoma in the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. In this series, palladium-103 was used to treat 400 patients whose results were found to be superior to those reported for alternative forms of radiation.

Intraocular Imaging Research The Eye Cancer Foundation has sponsored research on specialized imaging techniques called FAF and OCT, to better understand why and how intraocular tumors grow. A series of our articles are recently published or in press describing optic disc melanocytoma, choroidal metastases and cancer-related retinopathy.

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SPRING 2010 THE EYE CANCER FOUNDATION

2009 ECF Publications

1. Eye Cancer Related Glaucoma: Current Concepts. Radcliffe NM, Finger PT Survey of Ophthalmology 2009;Jan-Feb;54(1):47-73. 2. Autofluorescence Characteristics of Suspicious Choroidal Nevi. Chin KJ, Finger PT Optometry 2009;80:126-30.

3. Palladium-103 ophthalmic plaque radiation therapy for choroidal melanoma: 400 treated patients. Finger PT, Chin KJ, Duvall G for The Palladium-103 for Choroidal Melanoma Study Group. Ophthalmology 2009;116:790-6. 4. Reactive keratoma of the central corneal epithelium. Finger PT, Chin KJ, Wong JJ, Iacob CE European Journal of Ophthalmology 2009;19:484-6.

5. Whole-body 18FDG PET-CT Imaging of Systemic Sarcoidosis: Ophthalmic Oncology and Uveitis. Shulman JP, Latkany P, Chin KJ, Finger PT Ocular Immunology and Inflammation 2009;17(2):95-100.

6. Subconjunctival ranibizumab for squamous cell carcinoma for the conjunctiva with corneal extension. Teng CC, Chin KJ, Finger PT British Journal of Ophthalmology 2009;93(6):837-8.

7. A TNM-based clinical staging system of ocular adnexal lymphomas. Coupland SE, White VA, Rootman J, Damato B, Finger PT Arch Pathol Lab Med 2009 Aug;133(8):1262-7.

8. Introduction of the 7th edition AJCC staging system for eye cancer: an international language for ophthalmic oncology Ainbinder DJ, Esmaeli B, Groo SC, Finger PT, Brooks JP Arch Pathol Lab Med 2009 Aug;133(8):1256-61.

9. The 7th edition AJCC staging system for eye cancer: an international language for ophthalmic oncology Finger PT Arch Pathol Lab Med 2009 Aug;133(8):1197-8.

10. Radiation Therapy for Orbital Tumors: Concepts, current use and ophthalmic radiation side effects Finger PT Survey of Ophthalmology 2009;54(5):545-568. 11. The Effect of Race on the Incidence of Retinoblastoma Krishna SM, Yu PG, Finger PT J Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus 2009;Sept-Oct;46(5):288-93

12. The Diagnostic Value of Exfoliative Cytology vs Histopathology for Ocular Surface Squamous Neoplasia. Semenova EA. Milman T, Finger PT, Natesh S, Kurli M, Schneider S, Iacob CE, McCormick SA. American Journal of Ophthalmology 2009 Nov;148(5):772-778.

The members of the 7th Edition, AJCC-UICC Ophthalmic Oncology Task Force include: Col Darryl J. Ainbinder, MD; Daniel M. Albert, MD, MS; James O. Armitage, MD; James J. Augsburger, MD; Nikolas E. Bechrakis, MD; Maj John H. Boden, MD; Patricia Che´vez-Barrios, MD; Sarah E. Coupland, MBBS, PhD, FRCPath; Bertil Damato, MD, PhD; Laurence Desjardins, MD; Ralph C. Eagle, MD; Deepak P. Edward, MD; Bita Esmaeli, MD; Paul T. Finger, MD (Chair); James C. Fleming, MD; Brenda L. Gallie, MD; Dan S. Gombos, MD; Jean-Daniel Grange, MD; Hans E. Grossniklaus, MD, MBA; Barrett G. Haik, MD; Col John B. Halligan, MD; Santosh Hanavar, MD, J. William Harbour, MD; George J. Harocopos, MD; Leonard M. Holbach, MD; John L. Hungerford, MD; Martine J. Jager, MD, PhD; Zeynel A. Karcioglu, MD; Akihiro Kanecko, MD, Tero Kivela, MD; Emma Kujala, MD; Ashwin C. Mallipatna, MBBS; Col Robert A Mazzoli, MD; Hugh McGowan, MD; Tatyana Milman, MD; A. Linn Murphree, MD; Tim G. Murray, MD, MBA; Jack Rootman, MD, FRCS; Didi de Wolff-Rouendaal, MD, PhD; Andrew P. Schachat, MD; Stefan Seregard, MD; E. Rand Simpson, MD; Arun D. Singh, MD; Valerie A. White, MD, MHSc; Matthew W. Wilson, MD; Christian W. Wittekind, MD; Guopei Yu, MD, MPH.

1. Ophthalmic Sites: Part X. The AJCC Cancer Staging Manual, 7th edition. Edge, SB, Byrd D, Compton CC, Fritx, AG, Greene FL, Trotti A. New York, Springer 2009 pp.523-589.

The AJCC-UICC Task Force Members

We are the only charitable organization that supports coordinated efforts among eye cancer specialists throughout the world. This is why we support the continued efforts of the international colleagues involved in creating Eye Cancer Big!

115 East 61st Street – 5B New York, New York #10065 1212-832-7297 contactus@eyecancerfoundation.net

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THE EYE CANCER FOUNDATION SPRING 2010