Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: Although ocular treatments of the primary uveal melanoma are effective to eradicate the primary tumor locally, its impact on survival remains unclear. The reason we believe local treatment has limited or no impact on survival is because, despite the increase in diagnostic accuracy over the past several decades and development of globe-sparing treatments, the mortality rates of patients with uveal melanomas of any given size have not changed appreciably during this period. Development of metastases is a complex multi-step process that occurs almost exclusively via a hematogenous route. Due to the complexity of this process it is difficult to isolate individual events in patients that are important in the overall progression of the disease from primary tumor to metastasis. Because most uveal melanomas are currently managed by eye-preserving methods that do not yield a pathologic specimen, a number of investigators are currently performing biopsy (usually fine needle aspiration biopsy) of these tumors prior to, or at the time of, ocular treatment to obtain representative tumor specimens for cytopathologic, cytogenetic, and/or molecular biologic analysis. Many new discoveries about the cytogenetic and molecular biologic abnormalities in uveal melanoma cells, and the ways these features influence development and prognosis of metastatic tumors have been published. Hopefully these findings will help us understand the process and improve patient survival since the impact of surveillance testing for metastasis and systemic therapy on the survival of patients with metastatic uveal melanoma is still uncertain.
Source: touchREVIEWS in Ophthalmology
Institution: University of Cincinnati
Language: English
Subfield: Ophthalmology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2502988141