Rare Eye Cancer: New Treatment Buys Patients 8+ Years

Margaret thought she was brushing away a hair in her vision in 2012. Within days, she learned she had stage 4 uveal melanoma and would lose her eye.

Thirteen years later, she's still here. And researchers at Queen Mary University of London believe they know why.

A team at Barts Cancer Institute studied 58 people with uveal melanoma, a rare eye cancer that affects just 600 to 700 people each year in the UK. When this cancer spreads to the liver, survival typically drops below two years.

The researchers tried something different. Instead of waiting for the cancer to grow, they actively monitored patients and jumped on new spots immediately with surgery or heat-based ablation to destroy tumors.

The results surprised even the medical team. Patients who received this active approach lived a median of 45 months after their liver treatment, nearly four years. A few patients have now survived eight to ten years, outcomes rarely seen with this cancer.

Professor Hemant Kocher and his colleagues borrowed lessons from treating more common cancers like bowel cancer. They realized that catching liver metastases early and removing them right away could make a real difference.

Margaret was one of the patients who benefited from this approach. After her eye was removed, scans eventually found cancer in her liver. She chose surgery over immunotherapy and worked closely with her medical team at every step.

The Bright Side

This was a small, retrospective study rather than a clinical trial, so larger studies are needed to confirm the results. But the findings offer something precious for people facing this rare diagnosis: options and hope.

The survival results compare favorably with recent immunotherapy trials, suggesting that surgery and ablation deserve a place alongside drug treatments. Marc Hurlbert, CEO of Melanoma Research Alliance, called for more institutions to share their experiences and test these findings globally.

For Margaret, the numbers represent something deeply personal. "I'm eternally grateful that Professor Kocher has given me all of these extra years to enjoy with my loved ones," she said.

The research team is now planning larger prospective studies to understand exactly which factors contribute to longer survival and how to identify patients most likely to benefit.