Pathologic examination of ciliary body melanoma treated with proton beam irradiation

Proton beam irradiation is one of the radiotherapeutic techniques currently used to manage uveal melanomas. Although this therapeutic modality has been in use for a decade and although nearly 500 patients have been so treated, there are only two published reports of the pathologic examination of these eyes. Key features found on pathologic examination of our patient's enucleated eye included vascular alterations in the tumor's blood supply, lymphocytic infiltrates, and lipoidal degeneration of tumor cells. The interval from therapy to enucleation in our patient was much longer than in the several previously reported cases, a factor allowing for the development of a more cumulative radiation effect on the tumor. The extent and degree of radiation-induced necrosis in our patient's tumor were more profound than in previous reports.