Gamma Knife Radiosurgery on Uveal Melanoma

ABSTRACT

Uveal melanoma is uncommon but life-threatening intraocular malignancy and has been treated by irradiation, local excision and enucleation. Gamma-Knife radiosurgery allows a high dose of radiation to be delivered to an intracranial target with a very high spatial accuracy and has been used for the treatment of ocular melanomas. We have treated two cases of uveal melanoma between October 1994 and December 1999. They include one man and one woman(34, 62 years, respectively). They were followed up for 12 momths. Mean maximal dose was 65Gy. In one case, the tumor disappeared 7 months after gamma-knife radiosurgery. In another case, multiple tumors (uveal, suprasellar and cerebellar tumor) had decreased in size. These results show that single and high dose gamma-knife radiosurgery is may be an option in the local control of uveal melanoma which can spare the eyeball and vision.