Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 9, 2026
Isolated Hepatic Perfusion as a Treatment for Liver Metastases of Uveal Melanoma
Published on: January 25, 2015
Survival Outcome After Percutaneous Hepatic Perfusion with High-Dose Melphalan for Liver-Dominant Metastatic Uveal
Carolin M Reiner1, Martin A Schneider2, Hauke Weilert3,4
1Asklepios Campus Hamburg, Semmelweis University, 20099 Hamburg, Germany.
Background/Objectives:
Melphalan-based percutaneous hepatic perfusion (M-PHP) became approved in 2023 for treatment of liver-dominant metastatic uveal melanoma (mUM). Patients with liver-dominant mUM have a poor overall survival (OS) ≤ 12 months; however, the reported OS benefit from M-PHP varies in clinical trials from 9.6 to 27.4 months and remains uncertain. Here, we report the OS outcome after 10 years' experience with M-PHP treatment of patients with liver-dominant mUM.
Methods:
A total of 38 consecutive patients (19 women, median age 57.7 years) with liver-dominant mUM underwent 99 M-PHP procedures (median: 2.6 M-PHP/patient) between April 2014 and March 2024 at our institution. OS outcomes were retrospectively analyzed using Kaplan-Meier methods and Cox proportional hazard models.
Results:
Median OS was 29.1 months after first M-PHP treatment (median follow-up: 25.8 months). The estimated percentage of patients surviving at 1, 2, and 3 years was 79.5%, 53.2%, and 28.5%, respectively. Each additional M-PHP cycle was associated with about 40% reduction in the risk of death (hazard ratio = 0.414). Median OS was numerically improved by 8.4 months with ≥3 versus ≤2 cycles of M-PHP administered (29.8 versus 21.4 months, p = 0.058). No treatment-related deaths occurred.
Conclusions:
This study found a clinically meaningful OS benefit in M-PHP-treated patients with liver-dominant mUM, reaching nearly 2.5-year median OS with ≥3 M-PHP cycles administered. This finding supports the need to account for the institutional volume and experience with the M-PHP procedure in both clinical practice and research, and may provide an OS reference for estimating OS gains in the evolving therapeutic landscape for mUM patients.
