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. 2021 May 8;13(9):2267.
doi: 10.3390/cancers13092267.

Small High-Risk Uveal Melanomas Have a Lower Mortality Rate

Rumana N Hussain  1 , Sarah E Coupland  2 , Helen Kalirai  2 , Azzam F G Taktak  2   3 , Antonio Eleuteri  2   3 , Bertil E Damato  4 , Carl Groenewald  1 , Heinrich Heimann  1
Affiliations

Small High-Risk Uveal Melanomas Have a Lower Mortality Rate

Rumana N Hussain et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Our aim was to determine whether size impacts on the difference in metastatic mortality of genetically high-risk (monosomy 3) uveal melanomas (UM). We undertook a retrospective analysis of data from a patient cohort with genetically characterized UM. All patients treated for UM in the Liverpool Ocular Oncology Centre between 2007 and 2014, who had a prognostic genetic tumor analysis. Patients were subdivided into those with small (≤2.5 mm thickness) and large (>2.5 mm thickness) tumors. Survival analyses were performed using Gray rank statistics to calculate absolute probabilities of dying as a result of metastatic UM. The 5-year absolute risk of metastatic mortality of those with small monosomy 3 UM was significantly lower (23%) compared to the larger tumor group (50%) (p = 0.003). Small disomy 3 UM also had a lower absolute risk of metastatic mortality (0.8%) than large disomy 3 UM (6.4%) (p = 0.007). Hazard rates showed similar differences even with lead time bias correction estimates. We therefore conclude that earlier treatment of all small UM, particularly monosomy 3 UM, reduces the risk of metastatic disease and death. Our results would support molecular studies of even small UM, rather than 'watch-and-wait strategies'.

Keywords: metastatic risk; monosomy 3; uveal melanoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Curves showing the comparative absolute risks of mortality due to metastatic UM in monosomy 3 and disomy 3 tumors subdivided into the defined ‘small’ and ‘large’ categories.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Curves showing the comparative absolute risks of mortality due to metastatic UM subdivided into the defined ‘small’ and ‘large’ categories.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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