Question:
I'm looking for information and experiences from people who have/had a
rare form of cancer known as Ocular Melanoma. I recentely had an enucleation
of my left eye due to a melanoma tumor. I'm primarily interested in the
statistics end of things at this point. What is the 5/10 year survivor
rate? Time to metastacies to liver or lungs. Probability of metasticies...
Also, my understanding is that if it does go to either the liver or the
lung, it's pretty much all over with... Any experiences or knowledge
would be greatly appreciated.
Answer:
i did find this in cancernet physicians pdq:
*** PROGNOSIS ***
Melanoma of the uveal tract (iris, ciliary body, and choroid) is the most
common primary ocular cancer in adults. In patients with small, localized
tumors, ocular melanoma is curable, and preservation of vision is possible
with
current treatment techniques. However, for patients with posterior uveal
melanoma, whether the eye should be removed or more conservative treatment
should be recommended is not known. A major clinical trial funded by the
National Eye Institute, The Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study is
currently
underway. Hopefully, a definite treatment recommendation will be
available
within 10 years. A summary of the trial may be found in the PDQ protocol
file.
[1]
A number of factors influence prognosis. The most important are size,
location, cell type, and extraocular extension (tumor size is the most
critical
factor). The selection of treatment depends on the site of origin (the
choroid, ciliary body, or iris); size and location of the lesion; age of
the
patient, and whether extraocular invasion, recurrences, or metastases have
occurred.[2] These three events make the prognosis extremely poor, and
long-term survival cannot be expected. In general, the mortality rate is
46%
after 15 years. Most investigators report approximately a 20% 5-year
systemic
disease recurrence rate following treatment. Unfortunately, for most
patients,
the best treatment option is not known, as appropriate controlled clinical
trials have not been performed.
