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Desmoplastic spindle-cell melanoma of the eyelid with orbital invasion
S Dithmar1, M L Meldrum, D R Murray
1Department of Ophthalmology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Purpose:
To describe the clinicopathologic features of a patient with a spindle-cell melanoma of the eyelid that exhibited orbital invasion.
Methods:
Case report.
Results:
A slowly enlarging mass developed in the eyelid of a 50-year-old woman. Excision of the mass showed desmoplastic spindle-cell melanoma. The tumor recurred in the orbit, and an exenteration was performed. A second recurrence 7 months later was treated with radiation therapy.
Conclusions:
There is a continuum of spindle-cell to desmoplastic melanoma. The prognosis of patients with orbital invasion of melanoma is poor, and adjuvant treatment including radiation and chemotherapy has little benefit.