Treatment of small choroidal melanomas with photocoagulation.

Seventeen eyes with small choroidal melanomas presumed to be malignant were photocoagulated. The melanomas measured 7 to 15 mm at the tumor base and 2 t0 5 mm thick. First, photocoagulation using the green argon laser was aimed at closing the choroidal vascular supply of the tumor. In a second stage, tumor tissue was destroyed using the red krypton laser for confluent burns of long duration. Such treatment was supplemented by cryotherapy in peripherally located tumors or whenever photocoagulation alone did not result in tumor regression. Photocoagulation alone was used in ten eyes and combined wih cryotherapy in seven. After an average follow-up of 42 months, marked tumor regression was achieved in 12 eyes and some tumor regression in two. Tow eyes ultimately required proton beam irradiation, and one eye was enucleated. No metastasis occurred during follow-up.