The British journal of ophthalmology
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To investigate the value of whole body positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in screening for metastatic choroidal melanoma in patients initially diagnosed with choroidal melanoma. ⋯ PET/CT imaging can be used as a screening tool for the detection and localisation of metastatic choroidal melanoma. Liver enzyme assays did not identify liver metastases, while PET/CT revealed both hepatic and extrahepatic metastatic melanoma. PET/CT imaging may improve upon the conventional methods of screening for detection of metastatic disease in patients initially diagnosed with choroidal melanoma.
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Orbital exenteration is a psychologically and anatomically disfiguring procedure reserved for the treatment of potentially life threatening malignancies or relentlessly progressive conditions unresponsive to other treatments. In this study the authors aimed to review their experience with exenteration, including indications, outcomes, and reasons for the increased rate of exenterations over the past 15 months. ⋯ Exenteration is a procedure performed with increasing frequency in this unit over the past 15 months, the majority the result of BCCs. A large proportion of these exenterations had undergone previous treatments under a variety of non-ophthalmic specialties in other units. Exenterations are disfiguring procedures that may, therefore, be reduced in incidence by aggressive removal at the time of primary removal. Once performed, the cosmetic rehabilitation is long, with multiple postoperative visits, independent of the method used to close the orbital defect.