Can eye tumors be surgically removed without removing the entire eye?

This study looked at the effectiveness of a surgical treatment called partial transscleral sclerouvectomy (PTSU) combined with microinvasive vitrectomy and reconstruction of the eyeball (MIVR) for the treatment of tumors within the eyeball. This showed that this treatment can be effective for most eye tumors.

Melanoma is a tumor of pigmented cells. They can also affect the eye. Eye tumors can lead to loss of vision and even loss of life. They frequently require a procedure to remove the entire eye in order to prevent the tumor from spreading. Sometimes it is possible to remove only the affected part of the eye and leave the remainder of the eye in place. This procedure is called PTSU. It can be followed by restoring the part of the eyeball removed through a combination of minimally-invasive procedures such as injecting salt solution to fill the gap in the eyeball. This is called MIVR. However this is a complicated procedure and there is a risk of complications or recurrence. 

There have not been many studies on this procedure to date. It is important to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of PTSU and MIVR in patients with eye tumors including melanoma. 

This study included 366 patients underwent PTSU followed by MIVR for eye tumors.The most common type of tumors were melanomas (58%). Patients were only considered suitable for this treatment if their tumor was small (<18 mm) and had not spread into the jelly of the eye (the vitreous). The average follow-up period was 87 months.

Early side effects following the surgery included swelling of the eyeball (7.7%) and bleeding inside the eye. 

5.5% of patients had a local recurrence at an average of 23.6 months. Treatment for recurrence included radiation therapy and removal of the eye. Overall, 7.7% of patients needed to have their eye removed after an average of 8.2 months. The reason for eye removal included recurrence of the tumor, invasion of the optic nerve and other medical conditions of the eye.

After an average of 97 months, there were no cases of recurrence in the eye or other organs or death.

This study showed that PTSU and MIVR is an effective treatment for some small eye tumors.

This study was based on medical records and only included Asian patients. There was no control group for comparison. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings