A rare case of oculocutaneous melanosis (nevus of Ota) at Ophthalmologist's appointment

A rare clinical case of nevus of Ota in a 6-year-old child is described. The clinical picture and diagnostic methods used in this case are reflected. On the example of the patients presented in this article, differential diagnosis with alkaptonuria is fully described. Given the risk of transition to skin melanoma and ocular melanoma, patients with nevus of Ota should be observed by Dermatologist and Ophthalmologist annually. Such patients should also strictly avoid exposition to any ultraviolet radiation and exclude possible risk factors traumatizing the nevus. Key words: nevus, Ota nevus, alkaptonuria, skin melanoma, eye melanoma.

Evaluation of eye melanoma treatments in rabbits: A systematic review

Melanomas are the most common cancer of the eye in canines, felines and humans. The treatment approaches vary, since no gold standard exists. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to compare the treatment modalities in ocular melanoma in rabbits. Medline/PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Embase were searched for articles published until 21 April 2021 in English, Portuguese or Spanish, reporting animal studies evaluating photodynamic therapy (PDT), laser, radiotherapy or surgical excision. Twenty-seven articles were included for the qualitative synthesis, with publication dates from 1970 to 2018. Of the selected studies, 19 used PDT, six used radiotherapy and two used laser as treatment. No studies regarding surgical therapy that met the inclusion criteria were obtained. The tumour therapy results were evaluated in a heterogeneous manner for different periods and various methods, including microscopy, angiographic, histological examination, fundoscopy, ultrasound exam and electroretinogram. The treatment modalities analysed successfully treated the ocular melanoma, with tumour necrosis being commonly observed. Despite the therapeutic efficacy shown, side effects have been reported for all the therapies. The studies showed high heterogeneity, and therefore, in the future, new studies should be carried out to increase knowledge about ocular melanoma treatment. The analysed therapies can be used successfully in the treatment of ocular melanoma, with more conservative options such as PDT presenting great potential.

A multimodal approach to eye melanoma: patterns of care and related complications

We describe the results of multimodal treatment of uveal and conjunctival melanomas. A retrospective analysis was performed on 54 patients treated with a multimodal approach between 2003 and 2008 in a single institution. Main outcome measures were survival, enucleation rate, local tumor control, visual function preservation and complications associated with treatments. The median follow-up was 33.4 months. The 5-year overall survival was 95.3%, the local recurrence was 3.7% and the 5-year enucleation was 9.4%. Vision preservation was achieved in 84% of cases. Observed complications were cataract, retinal detachment, diplopia, glaucoma, retinopathy, optic neuropathy and scleral necrosis. A careful consideration of treatment of uveal melanoma in this study allowed us to obtain the survival rates and visual outcomes similar to previously published results, with a very small incidence of complications. the results must be interpreted in the light of recent findings on the genetic pattern of uveal melanoma.