B. Sobottka et al., CHOROIDAL METASTASES AND CHOROIDAL MELANOMAS - COMPARISON OF ULTRASONOGRAPHIC FINDINGS, British journal of ophthalmology, 82(2), 1998, pp. 159-161
Aims-The purpose of the study was to analyse, whether the shape and th
e height to base ratio in B-scan ultrasonography are appropriate to di
fferentiate choroidal melanomas from metastases. Methods-Between 1991
and 1996 16 eyes of 16 patients with choroidal metastases from breast
carcinomas and 66 eyes of 66 patients with choroidal melanomas were ev
aluated ultrasonographically. The diagnosis of choroidal melanoma has
been confirmed histologically in all eyes. Irradiated tumours were exc
luded from the study. Fisher's exact test and chi(2) test were used fo
r statistical analysis. Results-Choroidal metastases demonstrated a si
gnificantly lower height to base ratio in B-scan (mean 0.18, SD 0.08)
than melanomas (mean 0.6 (0.16); p < 0.001). A polygonal tumour surfac
e was significantly more frequent in metastases (13 out of 16 metastas
es and in six out of 66 melanomas, p < 0.001). A choroidal excavation
could be demonstrated in 38 melanomas and in no metastatic tumour (p <
0.001). The reflectivity was significantly higher in metastases than
in melanomas. Conclusion-The combined use of height to base ratio and
reflectivity enables a highly significant discrimination between choro
idal melanomas and metastases from the breast, thus probably constitut
ing appropriate variables for the clinical differentiation.