RAWALPINDI: A team of specialists at Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital treated a rare eye tumour to save the vision and life of a newborn.

Mirha Ameer from Gujar Khan, just two hours old, faced the life-threatening congenital eye tumour, risking both her vision and life. After a week of consulting different hospitals, the parents eventually came to Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital for assistance.

The tumour was three times larger than the size of her eyeball, prompting doctors to urgently perform the complex surgery, which continued for two and a half hours and concluded successfully.

In a press release, Dr Tayyab Afghani said not only Mirha’s life but 50pc of her sight has been preserved.

He said it was a rare case of a congenital tumour but after complete treatment the infant could live a normal life.

Dr Afghani said congenital eye tumours could cause vision problems or disfigurement if left untreated. They can also spread to the brain, optic nerve, and the rest of the body, becoming life-threatening.

The symptoms included blurry vision, seeing floaters or flashes of light, shadows or dark spots in vision, light sensitivity, lumps on the eyelid or other parts of the eye, changes in the shape of the pupil, bulging, redness, or swelling of the eye, changes in the way the eye moves, and pain in the eye.

He said over the past three years, Al-Shifa Eye Cancer Centre had successfully performed 2,500 sessions of chemotherapy procedures on children who had been diagnosed with eye cancer.

Genetic testing can reduce the incidence of childhood eye cancer.

Dr Afghani said 2000 children with eye cancer had been registered, of whom 500 had fully recovered. The Al-Shifa Eye Cancer Centre caters to surgery, chemotherapy, and rehabilitation under one roof, free of cost.

Dr Afghani, Dr Mansoorul Haq, Shumaila Niazi, Umera Asad, Asfandyar Amirzada and Mohammad Tariq were among the team members who removed the tumour.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2024