UNILATERAL DIFFUSE UVEAL MELANOCYTIC PROLIFERATION.

PURPOSE

To report a unilateral case of what is named bilateral diffuse uveal melanocytic proliferation and consider the consequences of this finding.

METHODS

The ocular findings were investigated with multimodal imaging to include color fundus photography, fluorescein angiography, autofluorescence imaging, and enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography.

RESULTS

A 66-year-old woman had a history of breast cancer 23 years previously that was treated and the patient was free of disease since. She developed a recent decrease in visual acuity in her left eye prompting referral. She was seen to have an alteration in the pigmentation of the posterior pole of the left eye with dispersed red placoid spots. Autofluorescence imaging showed nummular areas of absent autofluorescence signal, which corresponded to areas of hyperfluorescence during fluorescein angiography. The placoid spots were hyperautofluorescent and hypofluorescent in autofluorescence and fluorescein angiography, respectively. She had diffuse thickening and infiltration of the choroid in the left eye. Because of the ocular findings, the patient underwent a systemic evaluation and was found to have widely metastatic disease with an unknown primary cancer. No progression of disease was seen in the left eye over a 6-month follow-up, and the right eye never showed any abnormality, except for a modest cataract, by any means of examination.

CONCLUSION

Bilateral uveal melanocytic proliferation has been attributed to a paraneoplastic process, allegedly from a factor in the IgG fraction of the serum. However, unilateral involvement suggests that there are other factors involved in disease manifestation.