This study reports the first clinically documented case series of patients with retinoblastoma treated with IViC. Despite a possible confounding effect of concomitant chemotherapy prescription using other routes of administration in four of the successfully treated eyes (20%), IViC achieved an unprecedented success rate of tumour control in the presence of vitreous seeding. Of note, none of the treated eyes required external beam irradiation to control the vitreous seeding. Further studies are required to assess IViC retinal toxicity and to better delineate its role in the management of retinoblastoma.

This technique is potentially safe and effective at a low cost and may play a promising role, especially in the treatment of recurrent and/or resistant vitreous disease in retinoblastoma, as an alternative to enucleation and/or external beam radiotherapy. However, this treatment should not replace the primary standard of care of retinoblastoma and should not be considered in group E eyes. Its application should be approved by an ophthalmological-oncological team and it should be performed by an experienced eye surgeon in a tertiary referral centre after careful selection of a tumour-free injection site.

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We observed a 25% prevalence of ototoxicity in patients with retinoblastoma treated with carboplatin, higher than previously published. Age at chemotherapy initiation was associated with carboplatin-induced ototoxicity, with children <4.25 months of age at highest risk.

The first chemical synthesis of the complete protective O-antigen of a human disease-causing pathogenic bacterium is described. The synthesis involved a protecting group strategy which facilitated regioselectivity of the key transformations, stereoselective glycosylations, and allowed one-step global deprotection of the completely assembled, fully protected, phosphorylated hexasaccharide by hydrogenation/hydrogenolysis. The final, amino group-functionalized, linker-equipped antigen was obtained in the form ready for conjugation to suitable carriers, e.g. proteins, to yield immunogens.

A concise synthesis of a branched trisaccharide, α-l-Dig-(1 → 3)-[α-l-Eva-(1 → 4)]-β-d-Fuc, corresponding to saccharomicin B, has been developed via reagent-controlled α-selective glycosylations. Starting from the d-fucose acceptor, l- epi-vancosamine was selectively installed using 2,3-bis(2,3,4-trimethoxyphenyl)cyclopropene-1-thione/oxalyl bromide mediated dehydrative glycosylation. Following deprotection, l-digitoxose was installed using the AgPF/TTBP thioether-activation method to produce the trisaccharide as a single α-anomer. This highly functionalized trisaccharide can potentially serve as both a donor and an acceptor for the total synthesis of the antibiotic saccharomicin B.