Uveal Melanoma Treatment and Prognostication

Abstract

Approximately 90% of uveal melanoma develop in the choroid, with the remainder arising in the ciliary body or the iris. The treatment of uveal melanoma is aimed at conserving the eye and useful vision, and, if possible, preventing metastatic disease. Enucleation is now reserved for tumors that are large and/or involve the optic disc, having largely been replaced by various forms of radiotherapy (plaque brachy-therapy, proton beam or stereotactic radiotherapy) and laser therapy. Whereas iridectomy and iridocyclectomy are widely performed, transscleral exoresection of choroidal tumors is performed only in a few centers because it requires special skills and hypotensive anesthesia. Transretinal endoresection using vitrectomy equipment is easier but controversial because of concerns about tumor seeding. Long-term postoperative surveillance is necessary to identify and treat local tumor recurrence and any other complications, such as radiation-induced morbidity, and to provide counseling to the patient. Factors predicting metastasis include older age, large tumor size, ciliary body involvement, extraocular spread, epithelioid cytomorphology, chromosome 3 loss and chromosome 8q gain, class 2 gene expression profile, loss of BRCA1-associated protein-1 (BAP1), and the presence of inflammation. Prognostication is enhanced by multi-variable analysis combining clinical, histologic, and genetic factors, also taking the patient's age and sex into account. As there is a lack of options for treating metastases, much research is focused on identifying potential therapeutic targets.

Keywords: melanoma; ocular; prognosis; therapy; tumor.