Survival after primary enucleation for choroidal melanoma: changes induced by the introduction of conservative therapies.

Background: Most uveal melanomas are currently treated by eye-preserving radiotherapies. However, for melanomas of the largest size or with initial complications, enucleation remains the reference treatment. Enucleation is called primary when it is proposed as the only local treatment option for a melanoma. There is very little literature on the use of primary enucleation after the introduction of conservative treatments. Our main goal was to evaluate the survival of melanoma patients treated by primary enucleation since the introduction of proton-beam therapy in France in 1991.

Methods: All melanoma patients undergoing primary enucleation in our department between 1991 and 2002 were included in this retrospective study. The 5-year melanoma-specific survival rate was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The multivariate prognostic analysis was performed using the Cox proportional hazards model.

Results: Forty patients, representing 8% of all patients with choroidal uveal melanoma diagnosed and followed up in our department during an 11-year period, were included in the study. No patient was lost to follow-up. The 5-year melanoma-specific survival rate was 31.45% (SE: 7.8) after primary enucleation. Significant prognosis factors in the multivariate analysis were: tumor thickness > 12 mm (p = 0.03), anterior margin of the tumor involving the iris (p = 0.018), and presence of epithelioid cells (p = 0.02).

Conclusions: The very low survival rate reported reflects the evolution of primary enucleation, which is currently indicated only for melanomas with the worst prognosis. The knowledge of current post-enucleation survival rates represents an essential achievement for both correct assessment of conservative therapies and patient counseling.