Abstract
PURPOSE: To describe the epidemiology of ocular and periocular tumors in patients presenting to a multi-tier ophthalmology hospital network in India using the electronic medical records (EMRs) system. METHODS: A retrospective, observational, referral, hospital-based study of 1,142,098 patients. The data were collected using the in-house developed EyeSmart EMR system. RESULTS: During a 6-year study period, 9633 (0.8%) new patients were diagnosed with eye tumors. Of the 9633 patients, 5209 (54%) were male and 4424 (46%) were female. Of all tumors, 6372 (65%) were benign, 282 (3%) were pre-malignant, and 3089 (32%) were malignant in nature, respectively. Overall, the three most common tumors included retinoblastoma (n = 1167, 12%), ocular surface squamous neoplasia (n = 957, 10%), and conjunctival nevus (n = 903, 9%). The three most common benign tumors included conjunctival nevus (n = 903, 9%), eyelid nevus (n = 358, 4%), and orbital dermoid cyst (n = 344, 4%). The three most common malignant tumors included retinoblastoma (n = 1167, 12%), ocular surface squamous neoplasia (n = 957, 10%), and sebaceous gland carcinoma (n = 202, 2%). The most common tumor in 0-10 years' age group was retinoblastoma (n = 1163, 42%), 11-30 years was conjunctival nevus (n = 408, 16%), and > 30 years was ocular surface squamous neoplasia (n = 801, 17%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The present study results indicate the incidence and distribution of ocular and periocular tumors in a large cohort in India. Retinoblastoma is the most common tumor encountered in a referral-based comprehensive ophthalmic oncology practice in India. The use of EMRs enables to capture the structured information and big data analysis of the same.