CURRENT CONCEPTS IN THERAPY OF UVEAL MELANOMA

Abstract

There has been significant progress made in the diagnosis and treatment of the primary uveal melanoma during the past decades and despite that, survival rate of uveal melanoma patients is still stable. Treatment options for uveal melanoma include phototherapy, brachytherapy, proton beam therapy, stereotactic radiotherapy, local resection, anti-angiogenic therapy, immunotherapy, and enucleation. Genetic analysis of tumors provides us with valuable prognostic information although effective therapies are lacking at this moment. It is not established yet whether prolonged survival is the result of treatment or whether it merely reflects earlier detection of metastases. Also, there are indications that survival after treatment of uveal melanoma probably does not depend on the method of treatment but rather on many clinical, histological and genetic risk factors. New studies are needed to provide a better understanding of of ocular treatment impact on survival in patients whose prognosis can be estimated according to the clinical stage, histological grade and genetic type. Therefore, the patients should be treated in experienced multi-disciplinary teams that must include these patients in clinical trial.

Keywords

• uveal melanoma
• therapy
• immunotherapy
• metastatic disease