This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Form of ophthalmic plaque radiotherapy successfully treats choroidal melanoma over long term
Ophthalmology. 2009;116(4):790-796.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Choroidal melanoma patients who received palladium-103 ophthalmic plaque brachytherapy were found to have an 86.6% probability of being free of metastatic disease at 10 years, a study found.
The retrospective case series followed 400 patients with uveal melanoma who were negative for metastatic disease from 1990 to 2007. Patients were treated over 5 to 7 continuous days with episcleral palladium-103 radiation, given in a mean apical radiation dose of 73.3 Gy. In the study, 272 tumors (68%) were located on or posterior in relation to the equator.
"In this series, results after 103Pd ophthalmic plaque radiotherapy were superior to those reported for alternative forms of radiation," the study authors said.
Through life table analysis, clinicians found that of 357 patients with visual acuity of 20/200 or better before treatment, 79% were expected to remain at that acuity at 5 years, and 69% were expected to remain at that acuity at 10 years.
They also found a probability of 92.7% of patients staying free of metastatic disease at 5 years, and 86.6% of patients were estimated to stay free of metastatic disease at 10 years.
In the study, 14 patients needed secondary enucleation, with five requiring it for tumor growth and nine for glaucoma pain control.