ecancermedicalscience

Image Report

Brachytherapy and anterior segment imaging in iris melanoma

18 Apr 2017
Jin Soo Andy Song, Adam A Dmytriw, Hesham Lakosha

A 40-year-old male presented to the ophthalmology clinic with a darkly pigmented infratemporal lesion in his right eye. The corrected visual acuity in both eyes was 6/6 and both pupils were equal and reactive. Slit lamp biomicroscopy showed a well-demarcated and heavily pigmented lesion in the peripheral iris between 6 and 8 o’clock. Ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) revealed a solid mass deriving from the iris stroma without ciliary body involvement, helping to classify the uveal melanoma and establishing the diagnosis of iris melanoma. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) confirmed melanoma with inactivation of the BAP1 gene. The patient was treated with brachytherapy using an I-125 plaque. Follow-up UBM, three years later, demonstrated significantly reduced dimensions of the tumour. UBM has become crucial to the differentiation of uveal melanomas from benign growths, and lesions <3 mm cannot be reliably visualised by other imaging modalities or localised to the correct uveal structure. Brachytherapy represents a safe and effective treatment option even in lesions that are BAP1 positive.

Related Articles

Johannes Matthias Weimer, Eva Kuhn, Michael Ludwig, Goodluck Lincoln Malle, Godfrid Kapipi, Valentin Sebastian Schäfer, Adnan Sadiq, Oliver Henke
Isabel Saffie-Vega, Sergio Muñoz-Navarro, Macarena Manríquez-Mimica, Jorge Sapunar-Zenteno
Iris Otoya, Natalia Valdiviezo, Katia Roque, Zaida Morante, Tatiana Vidaurre, Silvia P. Neciosup, Mónica J. Calderón, Henry L. Gomez