Pulsatile ocular blood flow in eyes with untreated choroidal melanoma

To investigate the effect of choroidal melanoma on pulsatile ocular blood flow (POBF).

Seventeen patients (10 men and 7 women) with unilateral untreated choroidal melanoma and 22 controls matched for age and sex were studied. Intraocular pressure (IOP), pulse amplitude (PA) and POBF were measured using the OBF Tonograph. In each patient, mean inter-ocular differences were analysed using the paired t-test. The correlation coefficient between tumour thickness and POBF was calculated. To assess the variation of this parameter, the coefficient of variation for three repeated readings was determined for healthy and affected eyes.

In the control group, there was no significant difference between eyes in any parameter. In patients with melanoma, there was no significant difference in IOP and PA between affected and unaffected eyes. Mean POBF was significantly higher in affected eyes (1040 microliters min-1) than unaffected eyes (876 microliters min-1) (p = 0.003). There was no correlation between tumour thickness and absolute POBF (r = -0.24) or between tumour thickness and inter-ocular difference in POBF between affected and unaffected eyes (r = -0.17). Mean coefficient of variation of three repeated readings of POBF was 7.76% in healthy eyes and 8.97% in affected eyes.

These findings suggest a high tumour blood flow or a global increase in choroidal blood flow in the presence of melanoma. POBF measurement may be useful in the clinical assessment of eyes with choroidal melanoma.