Abstract
Purpose :
Ocular surface tumors (OSTs) are a rare and vision-threatening condition of the conjunctiva and/or cornea. Potential treatments include observation for small, benign-appearing lesions, topical instillation or subconjunctival injection of medications such as interferon alpha-2b, and surgical excision with or without cryotherapy. We utilized the American Academy of Ophthalmology IRIS® (Intelligent Research in Sight) Registry to characterize the treatment patterns of OSTs in the United States (U.S.).
Methods :
A total of 15,086 OST patients were identified in the IRIS Registry between 2013-2019 using ICD codes. Relevant procedures and/or injections of medications were identified using CPT codes. Descriptive statistics and frequencies were calculated for the types of procedures and injections undertaken.
Results :
Of the 15,086 OST patients, 2,290 (15.18%) patients underwent a total number of 3,545 procedures and injections of chemotherapy or other agents. The median number of procedures or injections received by patients in the cohort was 2 (range 1 to 34). The majority of these patients underwent at least one surgical procedure (99.30%). Of the surgical procedures, 1982 patients (87.62%) underwent excision only procedures, 64 patients (2.83%) underwent cryotherapy only, and 216 patients (9.55%) underwent both excision and cryotherapy. Only 1.22% of patients underwent at least one injection of chemotherapy or other agent, the majority of which were interferon alpha (76.19%). Of patients who underwent injection of interferon alpha, 5 (21.74%) underwent a single injection while 18 (78.26%) underwent multiple injections. All patients who underwent a single injection of interferon alpha also underwent excisional procedures. Only 3 (16.67%) patients who underwent multiple injections of interferon alpha also underwent excisional procedures.
Conclusions :
Our findings highlight frequencies of various treatments of OST patients in the U.S. Only 15.18% of OST patients underwent procedures (surgical or injection); the rest were either observed or treated with topical eyedrops. The majority of OST patients who received procedures underwent excisional procedures, while the majority of OST patients who underwent injection procedures received interferon alpha. Few patients who received multiple injections of interferon alpha also underwent excisional procedures.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.