gms | German Medical Science

25th Annual Meeting of the German Retina Society

German Retina Society

01.06. - 02.06.2012, Münster

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Malignant uvea melanoma and suspected vitreous seeding

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  • Claudia Metz - Universitäts-Augenklinik Essen
  • N. Bornfeld - Universitäts-Augenklinik Essen
  • F. Otterbach - Institut für Pathologie und Neuropathologie, Universitätklinikum Essen
  • M. Gök - Universitäts-Augenklinik Essen

German Retina Society. 25th Annual Conference of the German Retina Society. Münster, 01.-02.06.2012. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2012. Doc12rg23

doi: 10.3205/12rg23, urn:nbn:de:0183-12rg230

This is the English version of the article.
The German version can be found at: http://www.egms.de/de/meetings/rg2012/12rg23.shtml

Published: May 30, 2012

© 2012 Metz et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Purpose: We analyzed 12 cases of suspected vitreous seeding and compared clinical and histopathological findings.

Methods: In a non-randomized, retrospective, interventional, non-comparative case series patients (vitrectomy performed between 2000 and 2011) suspected to have vitreous seeding of malignant melanoma of the uvea after local brachytherapy or without prior treatment were reviewed.

Results: In 12 cases due to clinical suspected vitreous tumor disease a pars plana vitrectomy was performed. Nine patients have been treated by local plaque brachytherapy prior vitreous biopsy, while one patient has received proton beam irradiation and two patients have not been treated prior vitrectomy. Histopathological findings revealed melanophages in seven subjects without proof of vital tumor cells, in three cases vital tumor cells were found in the vitreous body and in two cases melanophages and vital tumor cells were detected.

Conclusion: In case of suspected vitreous seeding prior or after treatment of malignant uvea melanoma it is essential to take a vitreous biopsy to detect potential tumor disease, so that - if present - vital tumor manifestation can be successfully treated.