"etiologies of pseudoretinoblastomas in histopathologic speciemens of enucleated or exenterated eyes with clinical diagnosis of retinoblastoma "

retinoblastoma is the most common primary intraocular malignancy in childhood. enucleation remains the treatment of choice in many children because the eye can not be salvaged with any other treatment modality. in some cases after enucleation etiologies other than retinoblastoma are detected in histopathologic review (pseudoretinoblastomas). this study aims to evaluate the prevalence and etiologies of pseudoretinoblastomas in those eyes enucleated or exenterated due to clinical and radiological diagnosis of retinoblastoma in farabi hospital from april 1986 through february 2000. records of all 453 patients who had sustained enucleation or exenteration due to diagnosis of retinoblastoma during these 15 years were reviewed for reports of histopathologic specimens. in those cases where the histopathologic reports were not consistent with retinoblastoma, hematoxylin & eosin stained slides were studied again. histological diagnosis of retinoblastoma was confirmed in 400 cases (88.3%), and 53 cases were pseudoretinoblastomas (11.7%). this frequency was in agreement with previous studies. most common etiologies of pseudoretinoblastomas were endophthalmitis (22.7%),phthisis bulbi, vitreous hemorrhage and retinal detachment (17% each ) and coat's disease (11.3%).