Ocular Oncology News

PHILADELPHIA — Vitreoretinal lymphoma patients with subretinal pigment epithelial infiltration had a shorter survival time while those who were younger than 55 years had a longer survival rate, a study found.

The FDA has granted an orphan drug designation to PV-10, Provectus BioPharmaceuticals’ ocular melanoma treatment candidate, according to a press release.

Local resection with radiotherapy has comparable results with cranio-orbital resection in terms of tumor recurrence and survival rate in patients with lacrimal gland carcinoma. Therefore, this method should be preferred because it is less disfiguring and preserves useful vision, according to a study.

A 65-year-old retired grocery store clerk was referred to the New England Eye Center with more than a year of progressive vision loss in the right eye. Two and a half years before presentation, she underwent uncomplicated cataract surgery on the right eye. Her vision was excellent immediately after the surgery. However, 1 year after the surgery, a “smudge” began obscuring the central vision in the right eye. Over the subsequent year, exams by outside providers revealed only scattered drusen. Yet, the vision continued to decline to the point that she felt that she was “looking through a dense film.” In addition to the declining acuity, the patient also noticed new floaters. She denied any flashes or photophobia.

CHICAGO — Sunitinib in the adjuvant setting is associated with greater overall survival in high-risk patients with uveal melanoma, especially younger patients, according to a speaker here.

A 28-year-old woman presented to the Lahey Eye Clinic reporting a 1-week history of constant binocular, horizontal diplopia. In addition to the diplopia, she described pain with extraocular movements and an associated frontal headache. She denied any blurred vision.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A phase 1b/2 clinical trial of AU-011, a light-activated, vision-sparing, tumor cell selective therapy for patients with choroidal melanoma, showed the treatment was safe and resulted in no vision loss for up to 12 months, according to a speaker here.

A 39-year-old man presented to the New England Eye Center with a slowly enlarging mass in the right eye that had become more noticeable over the past 2 weeks. His complete ocular and systemic review of systems was negative, including recent trauma, headache, sinus congestion, recent illness, fever, night sweats or unintended weight loss. His ocular history was notable for allergic conjunctivitis for which he used over-the-counter antihistamine drops as needed. He had no other significant medical or surgical history. His family history was noncontributory. He did not regularly use any systemic medications. He denied tobacco and recreational drug use and reported occasional alcohol use.

To the Editor:

Light-activated AU-011 for the treatment of primary choroidal melanoma was well tolerated with no severe adverse events, while showing promising early efficacy results, in a phase 1b/2 trial, Aura Biosciences announced in a press release.