Microwave hyperthermia for choroidal melanoma in rabbits.

Radiation has provided excellent local control rates in choroidal melanoma, but significant impairment in visual acuity has occurred in 30-60% of patients due in part to the development of radiation vasculopathy in the fovea and optic disc. Hyperthermia has been shown to have a synergistic effect when added to radiation therapy in human malignancies. The use of hyperthermia in ocular melanoma may allow a reduction in the total radiation dose necessary to achieve local control. A 2450-MHz microwave plaque applicator with integral surface cooling was used to deliver hyperthermia treatments to rabbit eyes containing choroidal melanomas. Extensive thermal mapping was done in acute eyes. In 18 survival animals, a single 23-G needle thermocouple probe with three sensors was inserted into the tumor. Target temperatures of 41.0-46.0 degrees C were maintained for 1 hour. All tumor-bearing eyes were followed for 1 month after treatment, or until tumor growth was noted, with serial ultrasound measurements and visual examinations. A 92% response rate was obtained in tumors treated at temperatures greater than 43.0 degrees C for 1 hour with no significant toxicity. Heat alone has significant tumoricidal properties in this animal model.