What does choroidal melanoma look like?

What does choroidal melanoma look like?

[7] The classic appearance of choroidal melanoma on IO is a pigmented dome-shaped or collar button-shaped tumor with an associated exudative retinal detachment. Choroidal melanoma is usually pigmented, but they can be variably pigmented and even amelanotic (non-pigmented).

Can choroidal melanoma be cured?

Even though the melanoma is cured and in remission in the eye, life-long systemic monitoring for metastasis is necessary, as metastasis could have occurred before the eye cancer was discovered.

What is the treatment for choroidal melanoma?

Treatment of medium choroid melanoma may include the following: Plaque radiation therapy with or without photocoagulation or thermotherapy. Charged-particle external-beam radiation therapy. Surgery (resection or enucleation).

What is a choroidal melanoma?

Choroidal melanoma is the most common primary malignant intraocular tumor and the second most common type of primary malignant melanoma in the body. It most often affects whites of northern European descent. Color photograph of a dome-shaped choroidal melanoma.

How long does it take choroidal melanoma to spread?

The median time from diagnosis of choroidal melanoma to diagnosis of metastasis was 29.5 months (2.46 years). Five of the 6 patients with metastasis (83.3%) were diagnosed within the first 5 years after treatment (enucleation).

How fast does a choroidal melanoma grow?

Choroidal melanomas tend to be very slow-growing, but because they often do not cause symptoms or visual changes when they are small, many are not recognized until they grow to larger sizes.

What size is a large choroidal melanoma?

*Large-size choroidal melanomas were defined as 2.0 mm or greater in apical height and greater than 16.0 mm in longest basal diameter, or greater than 10.0 mm apical height regardless of basal diameter, or greater than 8.0 mm apical height regardless of basal diameter if less than 2.0 mm to the optic disc.

How aggressive is choroidal melanoma?

Although rare, melanomas of the conjunctiva tend to be more aggressive than most uveal melanomas. They are more likely to grow into local structures and spread to distant organs like the liver and lungs where the situation can become life-threatening.

How fast do choroidal melanomas grow?

Statistically, of every 500 choroidal nevi, one will undergo malignant transformation if followed for 10 years; the estimated annual rate of malignant transformation is one in 8,845. 2.

What is considered a medium choroidal melanoma?

This system divides eye melanomas into small, medium, and large: Small: Between 1 mm and 3 mm in height and between 5 mm and 16 mm across. Medium: Between 3.1 mm and 8 mm in height and no more than 16 mm across.

Is choroidal melanoma fatal?

If it spreads, this cancer can be fatal. Although choroidal melanoma is rare, it is the most common eye cancer in adults. It usually occurs in people who are middle-aged or older.