We report a case of ciliary body melanocytoma in a Korean patient, which presented as an intermittently painful pigmented iris mass and was successfully managed by iridocyclectomy. A 52-year-old healthy man presented with an irregularly-shaped and heavily-pigmented mass at the iris root of his right eye. Visual acuity of the right eye was 20/20 with normal intraocular pressure. Ultrasound biomicroscopy showed a 1.5x1.3-mm ciliary-body mass with extension into the iris root. Iridocyclectomy with scleral resection under a lamellar scleral flap was performed, and the histopathologic features of the resected tissue were consistent with melanocytoma of the ciliary body. The patient's visual acuity remained 20/20 with good postoperative cosmesis. During one year of follow-up, no signs of tumor recurrence were seen, and the patient reported resolution of the intermittent ocular pain in the involved eye.
*Ciliary Body/surgery ; Humans ; Iris/*pathology/*physiopathology/surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Invasiveness/*pathology/physiopathology ; Nevus/*pathology/surgery ; Pain/*physiopathology ; Uveal Neoplasms/*pathology/surgery

A mongrel male dog of three years old was referred to the Seoul National University Veterinary Teaching Hospital following a one month history of glaucoma. On ophthalmic examination, hyphema, glaucoma, uveitis, iridal mass, and loss of vision were noted in the right eye. Ultrasonography and computed tomography revealed a mass with involvement of the entire uvea. Radiographic evaluation did not reveal any evidence of distant metastasis. The right eye was surgically removed because of the high likelihood of neoplasia. A histologic diagnosis of malignant uveal melanoma was made.
Animals ; Dog Diseases/*pathology/surgery ; Dogs ; Eye Enucleation/veterinary ; Histocytochemistry/veterinary ; Male ; Melanoma/pathology/surgery/*veterinary ; Uveal Neoplasms/pathology/surgery/*veterinary

BACKGROUNDCiliary body tumors are usually difficult to diagnose and treat in early stages. However, treatment of such tumors has trended toward ocular conservation instead of enucleation. Local excision of ciliary body tumors has become effective with the development of the modern vitrectomy, but long-term outcomes are still not clear. Therefore, we reported the outcome of locally excised ciliary body tumors after long-term follow-up.

METHODSTwenty-two patients (22 eyes), who had been diagnosed with ciliary body tumors in Beijing Tongren Hospital from January 1996 to June 2001, were enrolled in this prospective cohort study. Localized lamellar sclera-ciliary excisions were performed. In some cases, vitrectomies, scleral graft transplantations, and further excisions of the anterior choroid were performed. Diagnoses were confirmed by histopathologic examination. Patients were followed from five to eleven years after surgery. Their visual acuity, intraocular pressure and local recurrence were recorded with descriptive percentages.

RESULTSAfter surgery, all patients maintained normal eyeball appearances. Six patients maintained circular pupils. The final best corrected visual acuities (BCVA) varied from 0.02 - 1.00, including 18 patients (81.82%) who had BCVA equal to or better than that before surgery. Fifteen patients (68.18%) had BCVA better than 0.3. Only two patients had intraocular pressure (IOP) of less than 10 mmHg and the other patients maintained normal IOP. Nine cases (40.91%) were given confirmed diagnosis of malignant melanoma, four (18.18%) of melanocytoma, six (27.27%) of nonpigmented ciliary epithelial adenoma, two (9.09%) of neurofibroma, and one (4.55%) of neurinoma. Twenty patients (90.91%) had no recurrence during the follow-up period. In one case melanocytoma recurred seven years after surgery and enucleation was performed. One patient, whose operation removed a malignant melanoma with a diameter of 16 mm, died of hepatic metastasis five years after the operation.

CONCLUSIONFor some ciliary body tumors, especially in the early stages, local excision is an effective and safe method to save the vision and the eyeball.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Ciliary Body ; Cohort Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Male ; Melanoma ; surgery ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Uveal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; surgery ; Visual Acuity