Will Your Cancer Spread?

Reported April 2007

LOS ANGELES (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Ocular melanoma, or eye cancer, is a serious disease that affects about 2,000 Americans each year. Roughly half of patients will die from the cancer because their tumor spreads to other areas of the body. Now, a new test can tell patients if they're looking at life ... or death.

Just like everyone, Susan Izanstark-Rosenthal relies on her eyes every second of every day. "I'm an attorney, and I read and write all day long," she says.

But about a year ago, she didn't know if she'd be able to see out of her left eye ever again. Rosenthal was diagnosed with ocular melanoma. Surgery followed.

"It was very scary, and I didn't know when I woke up if I'd be able to see in the other eye," she says. Even scarier -- she found out she could die if her cancer spread.

Ocular oncologist Tara Young, M.D., says a new biopsy test can tell patients if their tumor is the kind that will spread.

"It represents the first step that we've been able to make in a long time with this cancer," Dr. Young, of the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA, tells Ivanhoe.

Using very thin needles, surgeons collect cells from tumors and analyze them. If tumors are missing a copy of chromosome three, patients are at high risk of having their cancer spread. If tumors are normal, they have a very low risk.

"If someone could tell you that you were gonna go and die of your cancer, I think that most people want that information and that knowledge, so that they can just take a little bit more control over their lives," Dr. Young says.

Only a handful of medical centers across the country are performing the eye biopsy technique. While there's no cure for ocular melanoma, patients who are at higher risk can be followed more closely and put on experimental treatments. She says so far, all of her patients have wanted to know the results of their biopsy.

Rosenthal wasn't missing a copy. It's a great relief for her -- and her daughter. "It's given me, once again, a reminder that you need to appreciate every day and be very grateful for what you have," Rosenthal says.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Jules Stein Eye Institute
University of California at Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
(310) 825-5000
http://www.jsei.org/Patient_Care/home_contactus.html

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