A multimodal approach to the treatment of bilateral choroidal metastases from thyroid carcinoma

A 58-year old man, affected by metastatic thyroid carcinoma, experienced a progressive bilateral visual impairment. Ophthalmic examination revealed the presence of a choroidal mass with an associated exudative retinal detachment in both eyes. Twelve years before, a diagnosis of metastatic thyroid carcinoma had been established and the patient had been subject to several therapeutic procedures

A multimodal approach to eye melanoma: patterns of care and related complications

We describe the results of multimodal treatment of uveal and conjunctival melanomas. A retrospective analysis was performed on 54 patients treated with a multimodal approach between 2003 and 2008 in a single institution. Main outcome measures were survival, enucleation rate, local tumor control, visual function preservation and complications associated with treatments. The median follow-up was 33.4 months. The 5-year overall survival was 95.3%, the local recurrence was 3.7% and the 5-year enucleation was 9.4%. Vision preservation was achieved in 84% of cases. Observed complications were cataract, retinal detachment, diplopia, glaucoma, retinopathy, optic neuropathy and scleral necrosis. A careful consideration of treatment of uveal melanoma in this study allowed us to obtain the survival rates and visual outcomes similar to previously published results, with a very small incidence of complications. the results must be interpreted in the light of recent findings on the genetic pattern of uveal melanoma

Quality of Life, Depression, and Anxiety in Patients with Uveal Melanoma: A Review

The aim is to summarize current knowledge on both QoL and depressive/anxious symptoms in patients with UM, including studies on the effect on QoL and psychological status of genetic testing related to the risk of metastatic disease. A review from the last 25 years by using the databases "PsycInfo," "Medline," and "Science Direct" was performed. As a total result, eighteen papers were retrieved. Eight studies (44.4%) used a prospective design methodology: two were retrospective observations (11.1%), three were cross-sectional observational studies (16.6%), and three (16.6%) were naturalistic follow-up studies. One trial was conducted with a case-control design (5.5%), and one was a methodological paper (5.5%). The number of subjects included in the studies ranged widely, between 7 and 842 (mean: 152.1 ± 201.3), for a total of 2587 patients, 1306 males (50.5%) and 1281 females (49.5%). The mean age of subject enrolled was 61.3 ± 4.1 years. Twenty-six different scales, questionnaires, or interviews were utilized. No significant differences in QoL between radiotherapy and enucleation emerged. Genetic testing did not significantly affect QoL or psychological status