Results of the treatment of 165 lid carcinomas by iridium wire implant

A group of 160 adult patients with epithelial tumors of the lid and/or canthi treated by iridium 192 wire implant are presented. There were 165 epithelial tumors, most of them were basocellular type (85%). In all cases, a nonradioactive procedure was used with disposable angiocatheters before introducing active wires. Respectively, 111/114 (97.4%) of "new" lesions and 48/51 (94%) of previously treated tumors were definitively cured by iridium wire implant. Among the 6 local recurrences, 4 were salvaged by a second iridium implant, and the two others by extensive surgery. Local side effects were present in 30 patients (18%): impairment of the eyelid aperture 9, stenosis of lacrymal ducts 7, eversion of the lid 7, lack of substance 7. These postherapeutic complications were significantly more frequent in treating recurrent lesions (15/48, 31.2%) than in previously untreated tumors (15/112, 13.4%). No visual complication was observed even in the early patients of this series.