Early lesions of bilateral diffuse melanocytic proliferation
A. M. Leys, H. G. Dierick and R. M. Sciot
Department of Ophthalmology, Universitaire Ziekenhuizen St Rafael, Leuven, Belgium.
The early lesions of bilateral diffuse melanocytic proliferation were
studied with fluorescein angiography in a 63-year-old woman. We first
observed a small choroidal melanoma in the left eye and several flat
melanocytic lesions in both eyes. Extension and growth of new melanocytic
lesions and leakage at the level of the pigment epithelium were then noted.
Subsequently, pink patches, with an eye-catching early hyperfluorescence,
appeared in the posterior fundus in both eyes. The patient experienced
progressive visual loss during the 8-month follow-up period before her
death. Histopathologically, the uveal tracts were diffusely thickened by
melanocytic proliferation. The primary systemic neoplasm was an ovarian
carcinoma, found in five of 18 patients with this unusual paraneoplastic
syndrome.
