Choroidal amelanotic tumours: clinical differentiation of benign from malignant lesions in 5586 cases

To investigate demographics and clinical features of patients with amelanotic choroidal tumours.

Retrospective analysis.

Comparison of demographic and clinical features of various amelanotic choroidal tumours based on stratification by patient age, sex and tumour diameter. Included were all patients with amelanotic choroidal tumours evaluated on the Ocular Oncology Service, Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, over a 45-year time period.

A total of 5586 amelanotic choroidal tumours in 4638 eyes of 4441 patients were included with a mean age at presentation of 58 years (median 60, range 0.1-100 years). Most patients were white (95%), female (56%) and with unilateral lesion (96%). By comparison, amelanotic melanoma presented at a younger mean age (57 years) compared with metastasis (60 years, p<0.001), nevus (61 years, p<0.001), lymphoma (65 years, p<0.001), sclerochoroidal calcification (70 years, p<0.001) and peripheral exudative haemorrhagic chorioretinopathy (80 years, p<0.001). Melanoma presented at an older mean age compared with osteoma (30 years, p<0.001), granuloma (42 years, p<0.001), haemangioma (49 years, p<0.001) and inflammatory choroidal lesions (49 years, p<0.001). Differences in race and sex were also seen between the various amelanotic choroidal lesions. With few exceptions, amelanotic melanoma had significantly larger basal diameter, greater thickness, more frequent association with subretinal fluid and more often ultrasonographically hollow, compared with other amelanotic choroidal lesions.

Understanding the demographic and clinical features of amelanotic choroidal melanoma and other amelanotic lesions could lead to an earlier and more accurate diagnosis.