Purpose: The purpose was to study the clinical profile and prognosis of young patients with uveal melanoma treated by proton beam irradiation.
Methods: A retrospective case-control series was studied. Seventeen patients aged <or=20 years with uveal melanoma and 51 risk factor-matched control subjects aged >20 years were treated for posterior uveal melanoma between 1975 and 2004. All patients were treated with proton beam irradiation at Harvard Cyclotron. Metastasis and survival of patients were the main outcome measures.
Results: Of a total of 3,207 patients with uveal melanoma, 17 patients were <or=20 years of age at the time of diagnosis. No metastatic deaths were observed (median follow-up, 16 years). Among the control group, there were 7 of 50 metastasis-related deaths.
Conclusion: There was an excellent outcome regarding metastasis in a cohort of young patients with posterior uveal melanoma treated with proton beam irradiation.