Radiation treatment effective for long-term control of ocular melanoma

BOSTON — High-dose radiation treatment is highly effective for local control of intraocular melanomas, according to a long-term study here. The study of results of proton beam radiation beginning in 1975 showed that eyes were preserved in most cases and functional vision was often maintained.

Evangelos Gragoudas, MD, and colleagues at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary reviewed the records of 2,069 patients treated with radiation for intraocular melanoma between 1975 and 1997. They developed risk score equations to estimate the probable occurrence of tumor recurrence, death from metastasis, eye retention and vision loss.

According to the report, 60 of the 2,069 patients experienced tumor regrowth, and 95% of tumors were controlled locally at 15 years.

Overall, the treated eye was retained by 84% of patients at 15 years. The probability for vision loss, defined as visual acuity worse than 20/200, ranged from 100% to 20% at 10 years, depending on the patient’s risk group. The probability for death from tumor metastasis ranged from 95% to 35% at 15 years depending on the risk group.

Full results of the study are published in Archives of Ophthalmology.