Transpupillary Thermotherapy

Open Access

1 February 1998

journal article
research article
Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in Archives of Ophthalmology (1950)

Vol. 116 (2) , 157-162
https://doi.org/10.1001/archopht.116.2.157

Abstract

TRANSPUPILLARY thermotherapy (TTT) is a new approach for the treatment of choroidal melanoma. We used infrared radiation at 810 nm, which produced optimal penetration into tissue but very low absorption by ocular media.¹^-3 Deep penetration of heat was also promoted with use of a large 3-mm-diameter radiation beam and a long 1-minute exposure time.⁴ Calculated intratumoral temperatures were 45°C to 60°C, which provided heat that would exert a direct destructive effect on tumor cells.⁵ Tumor necrosis was up to 6 mm deep in animal experiments⁶ and up to 3.9 mm in human choroidal melanoma.⁵ Thermotherapy differs from hyperthermia in that the latter is performed at temperatures of 42°C to 44°C, which do not cause permanent tumor damage but enhance the effect of radiotherapy.⁷^-13 It also should not be confused with photocoagulation, which only causes superficial tumor necrosis of 0.2 to 1.0 mm.¹⁴

Keywords

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:

Radiation Maculopathy after Proton Beam Irradiation for Choroidal Melanoma
Ophthalmology, 1992