Metabolic imaging of uveal melanoma using positron emission tomography

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a technique in nuclear medicine that allows the in vivo assessment of the pattern of distribution and rates of biochemical processes. We report the use of PET to obtain an in vivo metabolic picture of a choroidal melanoma. Report of a Case. —A 67-year-old white man was referred to our hospital because of a 6-month history of blurred vision in the left eye. The ophthalmoscopic examination demonstrated a pigmented mass in the inferotemporal quadrant. Slit-lamp biomicroscopy with contact lens, ultrasonography, fluorescein angiography, magnetic resonance imaging of the orbit, and single-photon emission tomography immunoscintigraphy with antimelanoma monoclonal antibodies were all consistent with the diagnosis of malignant melanoma. No systemic metastases were detected. The contralateral eye was normal. After informed consent had been obtained from the patient, a PET study was performed using the ECAT 931/04-12 tomograph (CTI/Siemens Gammasonic, Des Plaines, Ill) 40 minutes after the intravenous