European journal of cancer care
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Eur J Cancer Care (Engl) · Sep 2007
Case ReportsOcular melanoma presenting as a case of panophthalmitis in a 78-year-old Nigerian woman (masquerade syndrome): an uncommon finding in Benin City, Nigeria.
Theodore states that the term 'masquerade syndrome' first appeared in the ophthalmic literature in 1967 to describe a conjunctival carcinoma that presented as chronic conjunctivitis. Since then, the masquerade syndrome label has been applied to a group of disorders that mimic ocular inflammatory disease. Although some benign conditions can be considered masquerade syndromes, most often the term refers to malignant entities. ⋯ Nevertheless, the subject deserves wide attention because, in many cases, the diseases that masquerade are not only vision-threatening but potentially fatal. Significant morbidity and mortality can be averted by early recognition and diagnosis of the masquerade. In this article, we present a case of a 78-year-old Nigerian woman who had an ocular melanoma that presented as a panophthalmitis, a rare case of masquerade syndrome in our environment.