Results after beta-irradiation (106Ru/106Rh) of choroidal melanomas. Twenty years' experience.

For two decades, from 1964 to 1984, 309 patients suffering from choroidal melanoma were treated with 106Ru/106Rh applications, following confirmation of diagnosis by a variety of tests. A total of 216 patients (69.9%) were treated successfully and have been under observation for a mean period of 6.7 years after irradiation. 188 patients were followed for more than five years. Results indicate that enucleation for choroidal melanoma, especially in cases of eyes with good vision, may no longer be the standard treatment for this disease. This appears particularly true inasmuch as almost 50% of all patients with large choroidal melanomas who have enucleation die from metastases within 5 years of the operation. Therefore, conservative methods such as photocoagulation, irradiation, and microsurgical excision have been used with more or less success to destroy tumor and save a functioning eye.