Observation of suspected choroidal and ciliary body melanomas for evidence of growth prior to enucleation.

One hundred and sixteen patients with suspected malignant melanoma of the choroid and ciliary body were observed for evidence of tumor growth prior to enucleation. All patients were followed for a minimum of five years after tumor detection. The tumor failed to grow in 69 patients, and none developed evidence of metastatic melanoma. The tumor grew in 47 patients, and 35 patients had enucleation. Five patients (4 having enucleation) died of metastatic melanoma. Deaths caused by other primary malignancies (9 patients) and other causes (11 patients) outnumbered those caused by melanomas. The clinical accuracy of predicting growth of small and medium suspected melanomas was approximately 75%. Five patients died because of metastatic melanoma. This study demonstrated no evidence of increased mortality caused by observation of small tumors for evidence of growth prior to enucleation.