Bilateral melanocytic uveal tumors associated with systemic non-ocular malignancy. Malignant melanomas or benign paraneoplastic syndrome?

A 90-year-old woman developed bilateral diffuse melanocytic tumors of the uveal tract nearly 1 year before she died from an occult ovarian carcinoma. Although the syndrome of bilateral diffuse melanocytic tumors of the uvea and systemic carcinoma has been described, the uveal tumors in this patient were different in that they were indistinguishable histologically from mixed cell-type malignant melanoma. Although the relationship between the systemic malignancy and the uveal tumors is unclear, the cytologic features of the uveal tumors in this syndrome are probably more variable than originally thought.