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Arghavan Almony, MD; Sean Breit, MD; Hui Zhao, PhD; Jose Garcia-Ramirez, MS; David B. Mansur, MD; J. William Harbour, MD

Arch Ophthalmol. 2008;126(1):65-70.

Objective  To evaluate plaque movement as a potential factor in local failure using intraoperative ultrasonography at plaque insertion and removal.

Methods  Prospective study of 162 patients with uveal melanoma undergoing intraoperative B-scan ultrasonography at insertion and removal of iodine 125 plaques.

Results  Tilting of the posterior plaque edge more than 1.0 mm away from the sclera was detected in 15 patients (9%) at plaque insertion and in 85 patients (53%) at plaque removal (P < .001). Factors associated with tilt at plaque removal included male sex (P = .009), decreased tumor distance to the fovea and optic disc (P < .001 for both), notched plaque (P = .001), and episcleral hematoma (P = .009). Plaque tilt caused a reduction greater than 10% in actual radiation dose to the tumor apex in 37 patients (23%). Local failure occurred in only 3 patients (2%), all of whom had tilt of 1.95 mm or greater at plaque removal.

Conclusions  Plaque tilt after initial accurate placement occurs frequently during brachytherapy for uveal melanomas and may represent an important cause of local treatment failure. Recognizing and counteracting the effects of plaque tilt may reduce the risk of local failure.

Trial Registration  clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00459849

Author Affiliations: Ocular Oncology Service, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (Drs Almony, Breit, and Harbour) and Department of Radiation Oncology (Drs Zhao and Mansur and Mr Garcia-Ramirez), Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri.

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