Chemotherapy for Eye Cancer

Chemotherapy (chemo) is the use of drugs to treat cancer. The drugs can be injected into a certain part of the body (such as the liver), or they can be put into a vein (through an IV line) or taken by mouth (as a pill) to reach most of the body, making this treatment very useful for many types of cancer that have spread.

Most eye cancers are melanomas (also known as ocular melanomas or intraocular melanomas). Chemo is usually not as helpful for eye melanoma as it is for some other types of cancer, but it can shrink tumors in some people.

When might chemo be used for eye cancer?

Chemo might be an option if eye melanoma has spread to other parts of the body, although other treatments such as immunotherapy or targeted drugs are often tried first.

If chemo is an option, the drugs used are generally the same as the ones used for melanoma of the skin. For more information, see Chemotherapy for Melanoma Skin Cancer.

Liver-directed treatment

If eye melanoma has spread to the liver and can't be removed with surgery, your doctor may recommend putting a chemo drug such as melphalan (Hepzato) directly into your liver through the hepatic artery (the main artery in the liver).

For this treatment a catheter (a thin, flexible tube) is put into an artery in the inner thigh through a small cut and eased up into the hepatic artery.

Liver-directed treatment is usually only an option if the cancer affects less than half of the liver and has not spread anywhere else (or if it has, those areas can be treated with either surgery or radiation).

Possible side effects of chemo for eye cancer

Chemo drugs affect fast-growing healthy cells as well as cancer cells, which can lead to side effects. These depend on:

• The type and dose of drugs
• How they are given
• The length of time they are taken

Side effects of chemo can include:

• Hair loss
• Mouth sores
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Increased chance of infections (from having too few white blood cells)
• Easy bruising or bleeding (from having too few blood platelets)
• Fatigue (from having too few red blood cells)

These side effects usually go away after treatment is finished. There are often ways to lessen side effects. For example, drugs can help prevent or reduce nausea and vomiting.

Some chemo drugs may also have specific side effects not listed above. Be sure to ask your doctor or nurse about medicines to help reduce side effects, and let them know when you do have side effects so they can be managed.