Abstract
Purpose: :
To compare clinical and ultrasonographic characteristics of intraocular melanoma in patients under 50 years of age with those 50 years of age or older.
Methods: :
Retrospective review of all cases of intraocular melanoma managed at a tertiary referral center between 1994 and 2004. Patients with intraocular melanoma age 49 years or younger (group A) were compared to patients with intraocular melanoma age 50 years or older (group B) on the basis of duration of symptoms, tumor involvement of the ciliary body or iris, tumor diameter, height, reflectivity, and presence of retinal detachment, sub–retinal fluid, hemorrhage, orange pigment or drusen.
Results: :
26 patients in group A (mean age 39) were compared with 77 patients in group B (mean age 68). There were no statistically significant differences in duration of symptoms [median 60 days both groups], involvement of the ciliary body or iris [19.2% group A, 19.7% group B], or funduscopic characteristics including presence of retinal detachment [56.5% group A, 52.2% group B], sub–retinal fluid [78.3% group A, 58.2% group B], hemorrhage [30.4% group A, 25.4% group B], orange pigment [30.4% group A, 25.4% group B], drusen [17.4% group A, 26.9% group B], or hard exudates [8.7% group A, 4.5% group B]. There were no statistically significant differences in tumor height [mean 5.4mm group A, mean 5.3mm group B] or maximal basal diameter [mean 10.6mm group A, mean 11.4mm group B]. There were, however, a smaller proportion of tumors that showed low to low–medium tumor reflectivity in the younger group [52.0% group A, 70.6% group B, p=0.09].
Conclusions: :
Clinical characteristics of intraocular melanoma are similar in patients under 50 years of age with those 50 years of age or above in terms of duration of symptoms, tumor size, and funduscopic appearance. There is, however, a trend toward fewer tumors exhibiting characteristic low internal reflectivity on B–scan ultrasonography in the younger group.
Keywords: melanoma • tumors