CLINICAL TRIAL
COMPARATIVE STUDY
JOURNAL ARTICLE
MULTICENTER STUDY
RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL
RESEARCH SUPPORT, U.S. GOV'T, P.H.S.
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Mortality in patients with small choroidal melanoma. COMS report no. 4. The Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study Group.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical characteristics and survival experience of a prospectively followed up group of patients with small choroidal melanoma.

METHODS: The Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study (COMS) is a set of clinical trials designed to compare the role of radiotherapy and enucleation in the treatment of medium and large-size choroidal melanoma. From December 1986 to August 1989, patients with small choroidal melanoma, not large enough to be eligible for the COMS clinical trials, were offered participation in a nonrandomized prospective follow-up study. Small choroidal melanomas were defined as 1.0 to 3.0 mm in apical height and at least 5.0 mm in basal diameter. A total of 204 patients were enrolled in the study. Patients were followed up annually through August 1989. Two additional assessments of treatment status and mortality were conducted in 1993-1994 and 1995-1996. The median length of follow-up was 92 months. Eight percent of patients were treated at the time of study enrollment and an additional 33% were treated during follow-up.

RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients have died; 6 deaths were reported by the clinical center as due to metastatic melanoma. The Kaplan-Meier estimate of 5-year all-cause mortality was 6.0% (95% confidence interval, 2.7%-9.3%) and 8-year all-cause mortality was 14.9% (95% confidence interval, 9.6%-20.2%).

CONCLUSIONS: Otherwise healthy patients, average age of 60 years, without a previous diagnosis of malignant disease who have small choroidal lesions judged to be melanoma have a low risk of dying within 5 years.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app