[Pretherapeutic computer tomographic studies and follow-up of patients with beta-irradiated choroid melanomas]

CT examinations before and after radiotherapy were performed in 48 patients with choroidal melanomas who were submitted for a bulb-preserving irradiation with ruthenium-106. The authors wanted to investigate to which extent further, especially pretherapeutic informations are obtained by computed tomography, if performed in addition to well-known ophthalmologic examinations (ophthalmoscopy, fluorescence angiography, sonography). Furthermore the side reactions of therapy induced by the intervention or by the tumor should be visualized. The measurements of the tumor prominence were of special importance for the therapy planning, because they allowed to verify the response of radiotherapy by computed tomography. Our own patients had an average tumor regression of 1 to 2 mm within the first three months after the irradiation with ruthenium-106; after six months the prominence of the melanomas had decreased by 3 to 4 mm on an average. Interesting side effects, also for the ophthalmologist, were acute radiogenic retino-uveitises and parabulbar oedemas found in several patients who showed a marked regression within one or two weeks. Some late effects were scleral scars at the point of fixation of the ruthenium calotte.