Retinoblastoma is typically diagnosed before 5 years of age and is often treated by enucleation (surgical removal) of the cancerous eye. Here, we sought to characterize morphological changes of the cortex following long-term survival from early monocular enucleation.
Nine adults with early right-eye enucleation (≤48 months of age) due to retinoblastoma were compared to 18 binocularly intact controls. Surface area, cortical thickness, and gyrification estimates were obtained from T 1 weighted images and group differences were examined.
Early monocular enucleation was associated with increased surface area and/or gyrification in visual (i.e., V1, inferior temporal), auditory (i.e., supramarginal), and multisensory (i.e., superior temporal, inferior parietal, superior parietal) cortices compared with controls. Visual cortex increases were restricted to the right hemisphere contralateral to the remaining eye, consistent with previous subcortical data showing asymmetrical lateral geniculate nucleus volume following early monocular enucleation.
Cortical morphology in early monocular enucleation was assessed.
Enucleation resulted in increased surface area and gyrification of the cortex.
Visual cortex increases were exhibited contralateral to the remaining eye.
Non-visual cortex increases in surface area and gyrification were also found.
Altered cortical development occurs following early monocular enucleation.