Choroidal melanoma: I-125 plaque therapy.

An iodine-125 eye plaque was used to treat 58 patients with choroidal melanoma. Patients were followed up for a mean of 48.7 months. Fifty patients had medium-sized lesions (height between 3.1 and 8.0 mm and base diameter less than 16.0 mm), and six patients had large lesions. There were 24 lesions less than 3.0 mm from the optic nerve. The average radiation dose to the apex of the tumor was 8,468 cGy (dose rate, 71 cGy per hour). Initial local disease control was achieved in 50 patients (86.2%). One patient with local treatment failure received another plaque treatment, which controlled disease, so the total disease control rate was 87.9%. Only eight patients died of their disease. Complications were similar to those with other treatment methods, but none of the patients in this study developed optic nerve atrophy.