PPV safe for irradiated uveal melanoma

Pars plana vitrectomy is safe to use on patients with plaque-irradiated uveal melanoma, according to a study in the Archives of Ophthalmology.

The retrospective case series, headed by Dr Alok S. Bansal, Department of Immunology, St Helier Hospital, Carshalton, Surrey, UK, included 47 eyes of 47 patients with plaque-irradiated posterior uveal melanoma who underwent PPV for vitreous haemorrhage.

The primary outcome measures included rates of intraocular melanoma dissemination, extrascleral extension of melanoma, local melanoma recurrence and systemic melanoma metastasis after PPV.

No cases of intraocular melanoma dissemination or extrascleral extension of melanoma were found. Local choroidal melanoma recurrence was found in one patient and was successfully managed with transpupillary thermotherapy.

After a mean interval of five years after plaque radiotherapy, four patients experienced systemic melanoma metastasis. The management of vitreous haemorrhage using PPV is safe and doesn’t increase the risk of intraocular, local, orbital or systemic dissemination of the tumour in patients with uveal melanoma.

To read the abstract please click here.