Treatment of iris melanoma with photodynamic therapy.

Photodynamic therapy was used to treat four patients with iris melanoma. Hematoporphyrin derivative was used as a sensitizing agent. The tumors were exposed to a total dose of 1.72 x 10(6) J/cm2 of 630-nanometer laser light. The eye of the first patient, enucleated after treatment, histopathologically showed significant tumor necrosis. The tumors in the three subsequent patients were almost completely ablated, with no evidence of regrowth.