Abstract
Purpose :
Uveal metastases are the most malignant intraocular tumors. The aim of this retrospective study is to report about the clinical characteristics associated with the primary disease and its therapy.
Methods :
We performed a retrospective analysis of the uveal metastases focussed on the localisation and the clinical characteristics according to treatment of the primary cancer.
Results :
There have been 72 patients with uveal metastases between 1998 to 2015. 37 patients suffered from breast cancer (51%), 17 patients from lung cancer (23%) and 5 patients from kidney cancer (7%). Additionally, there were also 4 patients who suffered from prostate cancer (6%) and 2 patients from a pancreas carcinoma (3%). Furthermore, there was a single patient with ovarial-, rectum-, urothelium-, neuroendocrine- and chorion-carcinoma, and multiple myeloma, respectively. The average age of these patients at the time of diagnosis was 57.7 years and the rate men to women was 1:2.4. The origin of metastases was known in 78%. 19% patients had no known history of systemic cancer at initial presentation. 56% of the patients presented with metastases already elsewhere. As expected, 95% and 5% of the metastases were located in the choroidea and iris, respectively. Generally, they were unilateral (78%) and solitaire (79%).
Treatment was targeted on the systemic disease and depended on the extend of extraocular metastases. For 38% the already planned chemotherapy remained unchanged in case of new ocular metastases. 32% of the patients were treated with a transdermal radiotherapy and 4% received a ruthenium plaque radiotherapy.
Conclusions :
The majority of uveal metastases originates from breast cancer in women and lung cancer in men. Most of the time, they are found if the patient already has advanced systemic cancer. The current therapy methods facilitate a sufficient local tumor control and preservation of the eye. An interdisciplinary collaboration with the oncologist is highly important to guarantee the best treatment in context of the systemic cancer.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.