Photodynamic method of diagnosis and treatment of intraocular melanoma

Malignant melanoma is the most prevalent and the most dangerous primary intraocular tumor. The most common treatment until recently was enucleation. In our experimental work we would like to present the use of hematoporphyrin derivative photodynamic therapy (HpD- PDT) in diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Eighteen eyes of rabbits were incubated intracamerally with amelanotic Greene melanoma tissue. The technique involves the administration of HpD and photoactivation of the tumor with violet light (406 nm) for diagnostic purposes and with red light (630 nm) to achieve selective destruction of cancer cells. After photoradiation the tumor showed blanching and shrinkage, we could also observe the tumor vasculature damage. Successfully treated tumors had large areas of necrosis with severely damaged blood vessels in histopathological examination. Results indicate that HpD- PDT is a very promising modern modality offering new diagnostic and treatment methods for melanoma.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.