What Treatment Are Given For Choroidal Melanoma

"For 100 years or longer, the usual treatment for choroidal melanoma has been removal of the eye, or enucleation. If the tumor has not spread to other parts of the body, then removal of the eye rids the patient of the tumor.
Since World War II, radiation treatment has been used for choroidal melanoma. During the past 20 years, this method of treatment has been refined. Radiation, at the appropriate dose rates and in the proper physical forms, is intended to eliminate growing tumor cells without causing damage to normal tissue sufficient to require removal of the eye. As the cells die, the tumor shrinks, but it usually does not disappear entirely. The most promising widely available method for irradiating medium choroidal melanoma involves constructing a small plaque with radioactive pellets glued to one side. Doctors who take care of patients who have choroidal melanoma are enthusiastic about the possibilities for this treatment, but satisfactory information about long-term results is not available. Your doctors recognize that they have a responsibility to current and future patients with choroidal melanoma to test radiation in a clinical trial.
High energy particles (helium ion or proton beam radiation) from a cyclotron also can be used to irradiate tumors. Surgery is performed first to sew small metal clips to the sclera so that the particle beam can be aimed accurately. Treatment is given over several successive days. The equipment needed for these treatments is available only in a few centers in the world. Good results have been reported in some patients, but many patients treated in this way have been followed for only a few years. Therefore, the long-term results of these forms of radiation therapy compared with the more commonly used plaque are unknown.
Over the years, other treatments have been used for a small number of patients. Photocoagulation using white light or laser light has been used to burn small tumors, and cryo-therapy has been used to kill the tumors by freezing them. These techniques are believed to work only for very small tumors. Some doctors have combined laser or cryotherapy with radiation, but such treatments are experimental. A few patients have had eye wall resection or a related procedure to remove tumors from their eyes. These methods of treatment are considered experimental by most doctors and have been used only for a small number of tumors. No treatment is available that can guarantee to destroy the tumor, to preserve vision, or to assure a normal lifespan"