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AimTo evaluate the efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab in the treatment of retinal vasoproliferative tumours (VPT).Materials and methodsSix eyes of 6 patients with VPT who received intravitreal bevacizumab were retrospectively reviewed. All patients received between one and three injections of intravitreal bevacizumab depending upon response to treatment. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), tumour size, and presence of co-pathology or sequelae were noted pre- and postoperatively and then analysed. Subsequent retreatments were performed in patients with recurrent or persistent VPT according to the ophthalmologist's discretion. Retreatments included photodynamic therapy with verteporfin, ruthenium-106 plaque brachytherapy, or endoresection of tumour.ResultsThe mean follow-up duration was 33.3 months (range 10-66 months). At baseline, the mean logMAR BCVA was 1.45 (Snellen equivalent of 6/165); range 0.10-1.90 (6/8-CF). Following bevacizumab treatment the mean logMAR BCVA was 0.98 (Snellen equivalent of 6/57); range 0.5-1.9 (Snellen equivalent of 6/19 to CF). Therefore, there was no statistically significant change in visual acuity. The mean tumour thickness reduced from 2.4 to 2.1 mm following treatment with bevacizumab. However, this did not reach the statistical significance of P

PurposeSurgical excision of peripheral iris or ciliary body melanomas can be performed antero-posteriorly (irido-cyclectomy) with mydriasis or postero-anteriorly (cyclo-iridectomy) with miosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of both surgical techniques.MethodsPatients were enrolled in the study if they underwent irido-cyclectomy or cyclo-iridectomy for iris and/or ciliary body melanoma at the Liverpool Ocular Oncology Centre between 1993 and 2012.ResultsThe 24 patients (8 male, 16 female) had a median age of 57 years. The largest median basal tumour diameter and the median tumour thickness were 4.8 and 2.2 mm, respectively. The resection was performed antero-posteriorly in 9 (37%) patients and postero-anteriorly or circumferentially in 15 (63%). Nine tumours contained epithelioid cells. Genetic studies were performed in 10 patients, showing chromosome 3 loss in two. Postoperative complications included hypotony in 9 (37%) patients, cataract in 8 (33%), hyphaema in 8 (33%), cyclodialysis in 1 (4%), wound dehiscence in 1 (4%) and bullous keratopathy in 1 patient (4%). The median follow-up time was 2.4 years. The last known visual acuity was 6/6-6/12 in 20 (91%) patients and 6/18-6/60 in 2 (9%), with 2 (8%) requiring secondary enucleation. Local tumour recurrence developed in 1 patient (4%). Two (8%) patients died of metastatic disease.ConclusionsSurgical resection of peripheral iris melanomas achieves high rates of visual conservation and local tumour control and may be the preferred option when tissue is required for laboratory studies.

Most uveal melanomas are treated with radiotherapy. An adequate understanding of the effects of radiation on the tumour and the healthy ocular tissues is necessary. Ionizing radiation damages cell membranes, organelles, and DNA. Irradiated cells are lysed or undergo apoptosis, necrosis, and senescence. These effects occur in tumour cells and vascular endothelial cells, resulting in tumour shrinkage, ischaemia, infarction, exudation, and fibrosis, which can cause exudative maculopathy, serous retinal detachment, rubeosis, and neovascular glaucoma (ie, 'toxic tumour syndrome'). Such abnormalities must be distinguished from collateral damage to healthy ocular tissues that receive high doses of radiation, and these include radiation-induced retinopathy, optic neuropathy, choroidopathy, cataract, and scleral necrosis. Radiation retinopathy can be treated effectively with photodynamic therapy, anti-angiogenic agents, and intravitreal steroid injections. In some patients, optic neuropathy may improve with intravitreal steroids or anti-angiogenic agents. Neovascular glaucoma resolves with intra-cameral bevacizumab. Exudative retinal detachment can regress with intra-vitreal steroid injections. Cataract is treated in the usual manner. Scleral necrosis, if severe, may require grafting, possibly using a lamellar flap from the same eye. Depending on the bulk of the residual toxic tumour, treatment can consist of intra-vitreal steroids and/or anti-angiogenic agents, transpupillary thermotherapy or photodynamic therapy to the tumour, or surgical removal of the tumour by endo- or exo-resection. Measures aimed at preventing collateral damage include eccentric placement of ruthenium plaques or iodine seeds and delivery of a notched proton beam. The decision to treat a uveal melanoma with radiotherapy requires the ability to manage iatrogenic side effects and complications.

The most common intraocular vascular tumours are choroidal haemangiomas, vasoproliferative tumours, and retinal haemangioblastomas. Rarer conditions include cavernous retinal angioma and arteriovenous malformations. Options for ablating the tumour include photodynamic therapy, argon laser photocoagulation, trans-scleral diathermy, cryotherapy, anti-angiogenic agents, plaque radiotherapy, and proton beam radiotherapy. Secondary effects are common and include retinal exudates, macular oedema, epiretinal membranes, retinal fibrosis, as well as serous and tractional retinal detachment, which are treated using standard methods (ie, intravitreal anti-angiogenic agents or steroids as well as vitreoretinal procedures, such as epiretinal membrane peeling and release of retinal traction). The detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of vascular tumours and their complications have improved considerably thanks to advances in imaging. These include spectral domain and enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT and EDI-OCT, respectively), wide-angle photography and angiography as well as wide-angle fundus autofluorescence. Such novel imaging has provided new diagnostic clues and has profoundly influenced therapeutic strategies so that vascular tumours and secondary effects are now treated concurrently instead of sequentially, enhancing any opportunities for conserving vision and the eye. In this review, we describe how SD-OCT, EDI-OCT, autofluorescence, wide-angle photography and wide-angle angiography have facilitated the evaluation of eyes with the more common vascular tumours, that is, choroidal haemangioma, retinal vasoproliferative tumours, and retinal haemangioblastoma.

Personalized treatment of uveal melanoma involves the tailoring of all aspects of care to the condition, needs, wishes, and fears of the patient, taking account of the individual's circumstances. When selecting between radiotherapy, surgical resection, and phototherapy, or when deciding how best to combine these different therapeutic modalities, it is necessary to understand the patients utilities, with respect to tumour control, visual conservation, and preservation of the eye, so as to prioritize outcomes accordingly. For example, such considerations would influence the width of the safety margins when administering radiotherapy, according to whether the patient considers it more important to conserve vision or to guarantee tumour control. With 'suspicious naevi', the choice between observation, immediate treatment, and biopsy is complicated by the lack of adequate survival data on which to base rational decisions, making it necessary for both patient and doctor to accept uncertainty. Personalized care should involve close relatives, as appropriate. It must also adapt to changes in the patient's needs over time. Such personalized care demands the ability to respond to such needs and the sensitivity to identify these requirements in the first place. Personalized treatment enhances not only the patient's satisfaction but also the 'job satisfaction' of all members of the multidisciplinary team, improving quality of care.

Uveal melanomas are diverse in their clinical features and behaviour. More than 90% involve the choroid, the remainder being confined to the ciliary body and iris. Most patients experience visual loss and more than a third require enucleation, in some cases because of pain. Diagnosis is based on slit-lamp biomicroscopy and/or ophthalmoscopy, with ultrasonography, autofluorescence photography, and/or biopsy in selected cases. Conservation of the eye with useful vision has improved with advances in brachytherapy, proton beam radiotherapy, endoresection, exoresection, transpupillary thermotherapy, and photodynamic therapy. Despite ocular treatment, almost 50% of patients develop metastatic disease, which occurs almost exclusively in patients whose tumour shows chromosome 3 loss and/or class 2 gene expression profile. When the tumour shows such lethal genetic changes, the survival time depends on the anatomical stage and the histological grade of malignancy. Prognostication has improved as a result of progress in multivariate analysis including all the major risk factors. Screening for metastases is more sensitive as a consequence of advances in liver scanning with magnetic resonance imaging and other methods. More patients with metastases are living longer, benefiting from therapies such as: partial hepatectomy; radiofrequency ablation; ipilumumab immunotherapy; selective internal radiotherapy; intra-hepatic chemotherapy, possibly with isolated liver perfusion; and systemic chemotherapy. There is scope for improvement in the detection of uveal melanoma so as to maximise any opportunities for conserving the eye and vision, as well as preventing metastatic spread. Patient management has been enhanced by the formation of multidisciplinary teams in specialised ocular oncology centres.