Follow-up studies of suspicious choroidal nevi

The fundus photographs and fluorescein angiograms of 255 consecutive cases of choroidal nevi were reviewed. Sixty-one cases (24%) were selected as suspicious on the basis of strict preestablished criteria including greatest single diameter, elevation, degree of disruption of the retinal pigment epithelium, and presence of subretinal fluid. Fifty of these 61 had adequate four-year follow-up. The remaining 194 cases, labeled as nonsuspicious, were usually small, relatively flat, slate-grey nevi which failed to meet the criteria for being suspicious. Of the 50 suspicious choroidal nevi followed four years, five (10%) showed photographic evidence of growth 4 to 30 months after the last examination. In contrast, none of the 194 nonsuspicious cases demonstrated growth. On the basis of these results, recommendations are made for the management of suspicious choroidal nevi.