Small choroidal melanomas. A long-term follow-up study.

Complete follow-up information was obtained on 65 patients whose eyes had been enucleated for small choroidal melanomas three months to 34 years previously. All tumors were 300 cu mm (10 x 10 x 3 mm) or less in volume. The average and median lengths of follow-up were nine years and 7.2 years, respectively. The 5-, 10-, and 15-year tumor-related death rates were found to be lower than those previously reported for small melanomas after enucleation, and the same as the estimated tumor-related mortality in patients who had not undergone enucleation. The average volume of tumors that caused metastatic death was more than twice that of tumors that did not. There were no metastatic deaths in 42 patients with tumors less than 98 cu mm (7 x 7 x 2 mm) in volume. Waiting to observe growth in tumors less than 98 cu mm in size did not appear to increase the risk of death from metastatic melanoma.