Follow-up after treatment for eye cancer

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Follow-up care lets your healthcare team keep track of your health for a period of time after treatment ends. This important part of cancer care is often shared among the cancer specialists and your family doctor. They will help you recover from treatment side effects and monitor you for any signs that the cancer has come back (recurred).

Follow-up care may not seem that important to you, especially if your treatment was long or very hard. You may find the idea of follow-up care stressful because it reminds you of your cancer experience or because you are worried about what a test might reveal. Talk to your healthcare team about how you feel and about why follow-up matters. Your healthcare team is there to help.

Schedule for follow-up visits

Don’t wait until your next scheduled appointment to report any new symptoms or symptoms that don’t go away. Tell your healthcare team if you have:

  • changes to your vision, including blurry vision or loss of vision
  • changes to the way your eye looks or moves
  • pain in the abdomen
  • a loss of appetite
  • weight loss
  • bumps under the skin
  • a cough that doesn’t go away
  • memory or personality changes

The chance that eye cancer will come back (recur) is greatest within 10 years, so you will need close follow-up during this time.

When and how often you have follow-up visits depends on the type of eye cancer, the size and location of the tumour and what treatments you had for it. Most of the time, follow-up visits for eye cancer are scheduled:

  • 1 to 6 weeks after surgery (if you had surgery to treat eye cancer)
  • every 3 to 6 months for the first 5 years
  • once annually every year after

During follow-up visits

During a follow-up visit, your healthcare team will usually ask questions about the side effects of treatment and how you’re coping.

Your doctor may do a physical exam, including:

  • an eye exam (if the eye hasn’t been removed)
  • feeling your neck and abdomen for signs of swelling

Tests are often part of follow-up care. You may have:

  • blood chemistry tests to look for signs that the cancer spread to the liver
  • imaging tests (including CT scan, ultrasound and x-ray imaging) to check for tumours or abnormal growths that may be cancer

If the cancer has come back, you and your healthcare team will discuss your treatment and care.

Find out more about follow-up

The following are questions that you can ask the healthcare team about follow-up after treatment for cancer. Choose the questions that fit your situation and add questions of your own. You may find it helpful to take the list to the next appointment and to write down the answers.

  • What is the schedule for follow-up visits?
  • How often is follow-up scheduled with the cancer specialist?
  • Who is responsible for follow-up visits?
  • What will happen at a follow-up visit?
  • What tests are done on a regular basis? How often are they done?
  • Are there any symptoms that should be reported right away? Who do I call?
  • Who can help me cope with long-term side effects of treatment?

Expert review and references

  • Hatem Krema, MD, MSc, FRCS, FICO (Hon.)
  • American Cancer Society. Living As An Eye Cancer Survivor. 2018. https://www.cancer.org/.
  • Choudhary MM, Singh AD. Ophthalmic cancers. Raghavan D, Ahluwalia MS, Blanke CD, et al, eds.. Textbook of Uncommon Cancers. 5th ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell; 2017: Kindle version chapter 68 https://read.amazon.ca/?asin=B06XKD44V3&_encoding=UTF8&ref=dbs_p_ebk_r00_pbcb_rnvc00.
  • Finger PT, Pavlick A, Sauerwein WAG. Intraocular melanoma. DeVita VT Jr, Lawrence TS, Rosenberg S. eds. DeVita Hellman and Rosenberg's Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 12th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer; 2023: Kindle version, [chapter 78], https://read.amazon.ca/?asin=B0BG3DPT4Q&language=en-CA.
  • Iavarone S. Is It Possible for Eye Cancer to Metastasize in Other Parts of the Body. Healthline; 2023. https://www.healthline.com/.
  • Krema H, Lapierre N, Waldron J. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Clinical Practice Guidelines – Ocular Oncology, Conjunctival Malignancy. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; 2019. https://www.uhn.ca/PrincessMargaret/Health_Professionals/Programs_Departments/Ocular_Oncology/.
  • Krema H, Lapierre N, Waldron J. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Clinical Practice Guidelines – Ocular Oncology, Uveal Melanoma. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; 2019. https://www.uhn.ca/PrincessMargaret/Health_Professionals/Programs_Departments/Ocular_Oncology/.
  • National Comprehensive Cancer Network. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: Melanoma (Uveal) Version 1.2023. 2023.
  • TWH Day Surgery Unit Education Committee. After eye plaque removal surgery: Information for patients and families. Patient Education. University Health Network; 2019. https://www.uhn.ca/PrincessMargaret/Health_Professionals/Programs_Departments/Ocular_Oncology/.

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