Brachytherapy To Treat Tumour In The Eye

Cancerous growth within the eye can now be treated with embedded radioactive plaques, instead of removing the eye. The cost effective treatment is  called ocular Brachytherapy. This procedure costs now Rs. 10,000 to Rs, 15, 000 as the radioactive iodine-125 seeds are manufactured in India's BARC centre in Mumbai. Earlier, the treatment was expensive, as the seeds were imported from Europe.


Ocular Brachytherapy is used to treat retinoblastoma in children & choroidal melanoma in adults. Retinoblastoma occurs one in every 30,000 live births & choroidal melanoma in 6 in a million & is more predominant in the West than in India. If untreated, the cancer can spread to other organs & even cause death. The tumours are usually treated with enucleation ( removing the eye) or controlled with chemotherapy. Through ocular Brachytherapy, the eye can be salvaged & patients can regain 60-70 % of their vision.


Ocular Brachytherapy can be performed at centres which are equipped for radiology treatment. The procedure is an interdisciplinary one as the treatment dosage is determined by oncologists, the radioactive seed is prepared & placed on a gold plaque by medical physicists & the plaque is surgically sutured over the tumour by an ophthalmologist. The patient spends 5-7 days in isolation following which the plaque is removed.