The effect of conservative treatment on the choroidal melanoma: histopathologic study.

Sixteen eyes harboring a choroidal or a ciliary body melanoma or both have been treated conservatively by photocoagulation, transscleral diathermocoagulation, and cobalt irradiation. These eyes have been enucleated because they showed an enlargement of the residual tumor and, in one case, perforation of the sclera. Cobalt irradiation affected all the layers of the tumor and was innocuous to the sclera. Diathermocoagulation destroyed the deep layers of the tumor and the sclera. Photocoagulation destroyed only the superficial layers of the tumor but not uniformly. Cobalt irradiation is the method of choice and photocoagulation a good adjunct in the conservative treatment of choroidal and ciliary body melanomas.