The Scandinavian Randomized Controlled Trial of Isolated Hepatic Perfusion for Uveal Melanoma Liver Metastases

Uveal melanoma is the most common primary intraocular malignancy in adults. Despite successful control of the primary tumor, metastatic disease will ultimately develop in approximately 50% of the patients. The liver is the most common site for metastases, and about 50% of the patients will have isolated liver metastases. These metastases are generally refractory to systemic chemotherapy and the median survival for patients with liver metastases is about 6 months. Regardless of treatment, the mortality rate is approximately 90% at 2 years with only about 1% of the patients surviving more than 5 years. Isolated hepatic perfusion (IHP) is a regional treatment that was first performed more than 40 years ago (Aust and Ausman 1960). During IHP, the liver is completely isolated from the systemic circulation, allowing a high concentration of chemotherapy to be perfused through the liver with minimal systemic exposure. In a previous study from our institution, IHP was analysed based on improvements in the procedure and the results showed an improved outcome together with minimized morbidity and mortality over time. A phase II follow-up study confirms that IHP is a promising technique with tolerable morbidity. There are yet no randomized trials comparing overall survival in IHP, but in an attempt to answer this question the investigators did a register study showing a 14 months increased survival when comparing the patients treated with IHP with the longest surviving patients in Sweden during the same time period.