[Long-term prognosis of 29 patients with uveal malignant melanoma who were operated on by local resection or enucleation].

PURPOSE

The prognosis after surgical treatment (local resection or enucleation) of uveal malignant melanoma was investigated.

METHODS

Twenty-nine patients with uveal malignant melanoma were operated on from August, 1989 to December, 2005. We evaluated the prognosis of the cases according to the operative method (local resection or enucleation), size of tumors, histological types, and presence of scleral invasion.

RESULTS

14 patients underwent local resection and 15 patients underwent enucleation of the eyeball. The five year survival rate was 100% in the case of local resection, and 66% in the case of enucleation. More patients who had large tumors died than patients who had small tumors. The five year survival rate was 100% in spindle A, mixed, and epithelioid type, and 69% in spindle B type. Five year survival rate was 67% in the patients who had scleral invasion, and 92% in the patients who did not have scleral invasion.

CONCLUSIONS

In our series, local resection did not worsen the prognosis of the cases of choroidal malignant melanoma compared with the case of enucleation.