[Treatment of eye tumors by accelerated proton beams. 7 years experience]

The therapeutic results of 1070 cases of intraocular tumors treated with an accelerated proton beam at the University Eye Clinic of Lausanne and at the Paul Scherrer Institute of Villigen are analysed. This total is composed of 981 cases of uveal melanomas treated by proton beam as first treatment modality, 42 cases of recurrent choroidal melanomas, 16 cases of conjunctival melanomas, 8 cases of choroidal hemangiomas, 18 cases of uveal metastases and of 5 other ocular tumors. The mortality rate at 5 years for tumors treated with an accelerated proton beam as first treatment modality was 13%, and the mortality rate of recurrent melanomas was 23%. The risk factor for life expectancy analysed with the Cox model pointed out that the largest tumor diameter, the width of the tumor, the presence of an extrocular extension and the age of the patient were the most significant parameters. The conclusions of this study are compared with those found in available literature.