gms | German Medical Science

During Soviet times, the ophthalmic oncology for Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – was concentrated in Moscow. With independence in 1991, it became impossible to send our patients there and we were facing a necessity but also an opportunity to start building up our own oncology services.

With the support of developed European countries, Estonia was the first of the three states to take steps towards establishing a modern ophthalmic oncology center. First trainings in this field took place in Hamburg and Rostock (prof. Guthoff), Essen and Berlin and later in Helsinki (prof. Kivelä). Given the small population of the Baltic states, economic considerations and, most importantly, expected slow experience gain in the eye oncology field, in 1993, a singular center was created for all three countries. The ophthalmic oncology, including treatment of all intraocular and orbital tumor patients and complex eyelid tumor cases, became concentrated in Tallinn.

Tallinn Central Hospital Eye Clinic is a member of International Society of Ocular Oncology (ISOO) since 2004 and European Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ESOPRS) since 1998. In 2010 our center received accreditation from the European Board of Ophthalmology (EBO) as a European Teaching Center. Since 2016, we are a full member of the European Reference Network of Rare Eye Diseases (ERN-EYE).

As a teaching center, we in return have had many young colleagues from many different countries in Europe, mainly interested in learning ophthalmic oncology and reconstructive surgery in Tallinn.

Thanks to liaisons and collaboration with other European centers, today we have not only access to the science-based management guidelines but also the opportunity to consult the most difficult cases with top experts from more experienced centers.