Endoresection technique with/without brachytherapy for management of high posterior choroidal melanoma: extended follow-up results.

Purpose: To evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of endoresection for high posterior choroidal melanoma.

Methods: Retrospective nonrandomized interventional case series. Forty-one patients had endoresection as primary treatment for posterior choroidal melanoma. Of these, 21 patients had adjuvant brachytherapy. The inclusion criteria were tumor thickness ≥8 mm, base diameter <15 mm, and posterior tumors not extending anterior to the equator. Main outcomes measures were enucleation rate, visual outcome, surgical complications, local recurrence, metastasis, and mortality.

Results: Mean follow-up time was 102.5 months. Mean preoperative best-corrected visual acuity was 20/100. Mean tumor thickness was 9.8 mm (range, 7.7-13.5 mm; standard deviation, 1.7 mm), mean base diameter was 9.9 mm (range, 5-15 mm; standard deviation, 2.8 mm). At the latest visit, 36 patients (87.8%) still retained the eye. Mean postoperative best-corrected visual acuity was 20/1,625. Retinal detachment was the main postoperative complication (28.9%). At completion of follow-up, 12% of patients had phthisis bulbi, and 3 developed chronic hypotony. Five patients (12.2%) had local tumor recurrence; none of them had received brachytherapy as initial treatment. At 5 years of follow-up, 3 patients (7.3%) had liver metastasis. On Kaplan-Meier analysis at 10 years, all-cause mortality was 7.3% and specific mortality because of melanoma was 2.4%.

Conclusion: Endoresection of high posterior melanomas was not associated with a higher risk of metastasis, death, or local recurrence than other reported techniques used to treat similar melanomas.