COMBINED I-125 PLAQUE IRRADIATION AND INDIRECT OPHTHALMOSCOPE LASER THERAPY OF CHOROIDAL MALIGNANT MELANOMAS - COMPARISON WITH I-125 AND CO-60 PLAQUE RADIOTHERAPY ALONE

The authors studied the short-term impact of combined episcleral iodin e-125 plaque radiotherapy and argon laser treatment in a series of 24 patients with choroidal malignant melanoma. All patients underwent pla que therapy prior to their initial laser session. All laser treatments were performed with an indirect ophthalmoscope argon green laser, usi ng low-power, long-duration exposures. The endpoint of laser therapy w as a well-defined atrophic circumbasal chorioretinal laser scar and co mplete or nearly complete nonfluorescence of the lesion on fluorescein angiography. In a case-by-case matched comparison study, the authors evaluated the relative local regression of tumors treated by combined plaque-laser therapy, iodine-125 plaque therapy alone, and cobalt-60 p laque therapy alone. The tumors treated with supplemental laser regres sed substantially faster and more completely than did those treated by either type of plaque therapy alone. However, the short-term visual l oss was greater in eyes treated by the combined therapy.