Ultrasonic hyperthermia and radiation in the management of intraocular malignant melanoma.

Hyperthermia and radiation were used in combination to treat four patients with choroidal malignant melanoma. This technique uses ultrasonically induced hyperthermia synergistically with radiation to destroy tumor cells. The lower levels of radiation used should avoid the late vascular and inflammatory complications seen in conventional radiation therapy. Tumors were scanned by a computerized diagnostic ultrasound system before treatment and assigned an acoustic tissue type on the basis of a statistical comparison of their ultrasound backscatter spectrum with spectra of tumors of known pathologic status. During the follow-up period, the longest of which was 15 months, all tumors demonstrated regression patterns consistent with choroidal tumors of the same acoustic tissue types treated with conventional radiation therapy.