THE EFFICACY OF RADIOTHERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF INTRAOCULAR METASTASES

From January 1980 to May 1991, 28 patients with intraocular metastases were seen at our Institute. Three presented with bilateral metastases and two developed contralateral involvement. Out of the 33 ocular met astases 27 were managed by radiotherapy. The most common primary tumou r sites were breast (18/28 patients) and lung (3/28). 22 patients were treated with an 8 MV linear accelerator, using a 4 x 4 cm anterior di rect field. The median dose was 40 Gy/20 fractions (range 28 Gy/14 fra ctions to 50 Gy/25 fractions). Of the 27 treatments reported, 16 resul ted in a complete response (59%), six in a partial response (22%) and five resulted in no change (19%). Complete and partial responses laste d for a median time of 13 months (range of 3-89+ months). The median s urvival time from the start of ocular treatment was 13 months. The aim of radiation treatment is either to prevent or to postpone the visual loss caused by intraocular metastases.