[Late metastases of malignant choroidal melanoma after curietherapy: two case reports]

The technical advancements now provide conservative treatment of choroidal melanoma. The course of the disease remains marked by the metastases that usually set in within 3 years. The aim of this paper is to report two unusual cases of hepatic metastases of choroidal melanoma that set in 11 and 18 Years after curietherapy.A 40-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man presented with T2 and T3 choroidal melanomas and were treated by cobalt plaque. The tumors decreased within the year and the patients were monitored every 3 months for 5 years.Metastases set in, respectively, 11 and 18 years after treatment.These two observations show that the metastases had already spread at the moment of diagnosis and that the cell doubling time of the melanoma was very long. These findings indicate the difficulties in monitoring patients with choroidal melanoma.