Retinoblastoma is the most common primary intraocular malignancy in
children (1 in 15.000-20.000 live birth). It involves an uncontrollable growth and
division of cells in the retina (neurosensory layer of nerve cells lining the back of the
eye). The most common first sign of retinoblastoma is a visible whiteness in the pupil
called “cat's eye reflex” or leukocoria. Another sign is strabismus; eyes do not point in
the same direction. Children with retinoblastoma may have inherited a gene from their
parents that causes this disease. Retinoblastoma is a curable disease with a very low
mortality rate; early diagnosis can result in a 95% chance of treatment success and
survival of the patient, with a likelihood of saving 70 to 80% of the vision in the
affected eye(s). This study aims to shed more light on the parameters that affect the
different treatment alternatives of retinoblastoma and how these parameters affect the
preference ranking of each technique. In this study, we analyzed and ranked the most
common treatment techniques of retinoblastoma using fuzzy PROMETHEE
(Preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations), a multi-criteria
decision-making tool using some parameters. The analysis results based on the
parameters, criteria, and weights used suggest that cryotherapy is the most favorable
treatment technique for treating retinoblastoma, followed by thermotherapy,
chemotherapy, photocoagulation, enucleation, and, finally, radiation therapy. Using
fuzzy PROMETHEE allows the decision-maker to change the parameters, criteria, and
weights according to the situation and the desired outcome. However, fuzzy
PROMETHEE for this application is to aid the decision-maker in arriving at a decision
and not be followed blindly without an expert opinion.
Keywords: Cancer Treatment, Chemotherapy, Children, Cryotherapy, Decisionmaking,
Diagnosis, Enucleation, Eye cancer, Fuzzy logic, Fuzzy PROMETHEE,
Multi-criteria, Photocoagulation, Preference ranking, Radiation therapy, Retina,
Retinoblastoma, Therapeutic techniques, Thermotherapy.
