[Choroidal metastases in lung cancer]

Ocular metastases are rare and their diagnosis can be difficult, being dependent on a combination of clinical examination of the eye, ultrasound, angiography and magnetic resonance imaging.

We describe two cases of cases of choroidal metastases in patients with a bronchogenic carcinoma. In both cases the metastases presented at a late stage in the disease and occurred in association with cerebral metastases. One patient had an epidermoid tumour the other a small cell carcinoma. Loss of visual acuity, which was slowly progressive in the first case and abrupt in the second, led to the diagnosis of choroidal metastases. Following radiotherapy in a dose of 30 Gray delivered to the posterior segment of the eye, both patients' visual acuity recovered to near normal within a few weeks.

If patients with lung cancer develop visual disturbance the possibility of choroidal metastases should be considered. Ocular radiotherapy can often ameliorate disabling visual disturbance, significantly improving quality of life.