Choroidal melanoma brachyterapy and secondary enucleation

In this article, an analysis of medical records of 51 patient who underwent eye preserving treatment of choroidal melanoma (brachytherapy or combination of methods) with subsequent secondary enucleation is shown. According to their initial sizes, tumors were divided into small, medium and large (11, 13 and 27 eyes, respectively). In small melanoma cases, the period of time before secondary enucleation was the longest, in cases of medium size tumors, it was more than 1.5 times shorter, and in large choroidal melanomas - two times shorter (р = 0,02). A characteristic feature of the small and medium-size melanoma groups was a low rate of postradiation complications (2 of 11 eyes, and 2 of 13 eyes, respectively). In large melanomas, morphologically the tumor was proven in 23 out of 27 eyes, and postradiation complications as an indication for enucleation were much more frequent (13 eyes)