Abstract
Purpose: :
To assess the incidence of complications related to combined treatment of choroidal melanoma with ab interno retinochoroidectomy and transscleral diode laser therapy.
Methods: :
The incidence of intraoperative complications (peroperative bleeding, inadvertent retinal touch at the macula, lens touch , inability to flatten detached retina , subretinal silicone oil , subchoroidal silicone oil , and scleral perforation) and postoperative complications (vitreous haemorrhage, cataract, ocular hypertension, retinal detachment , macular traction, epiretinal membrane, branch vein occlusion , submacular haemorrhage, phthisis, epiretinal membrane, local tumour recurrence , and endophthalmitis) was evaluated in 10 patients who underwent the procedure.
Results: :
As in other studies, the main intraoperative complication was intraocular bleeding which was successfully controlled in all cases. The main postoperative complication was vitreous hemorrhage (8/10). Five patients developed transient ocular hypertension, 2 developed epiretinal membrane and 5 developed cataract. Retinal detachment was observed only in one patient. Two cases showed tumour regrowth. There were no complications related to the use of trans–escleral laser therapy.
Conclusions: :
The rate of complications in our study appears to be no worse than that observed with other conservative treatment modalities. Combined treatment of this malignancy with endoresection and trans–scleral diode laser therapy may be considered as an alternative eye–and vision–sparing treatment for patients with high posterior uveal melanoma who are poor candidates for other conservative modalities.
Keywords: melanoma • vitreoretinal surgery • laser