Familial uveal melanoma.

Because familial occurrences of uveal melanoma are rare, there have only been 15 cases of familial melanoma reported in the literature. We studied 11 additional families with a total of 24 members, in which two or more members were afflicted with uveal melanoma. The median age at diagnosis was 56.5 years, similar to the median age at diagnosis of the remaining patients treated in our institution. Thirteen were male and 11 were female, which is consistent with the slight predominance of males found in many large surveys of patients with uveal melanoma. There is a possibility of a heritable component present in these families.