Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Clinical Care for Uveal Melanoma Patients—A Systematic Review from an Ophthalmic Perspective

Abstract

Conversely to most tumour types, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was rarely used for eye tumours. As recent technical advances have increased ocular MRI’s diagnostic value, various clinical applications have been proposed. This systematic review provides an overview of the current status of MRI in the clinical care of uveal melanoma (UM) patients, the most common eye tumour in adults. In total, 158 articles were included. Two- and three-dimensional anatomical scans and functional scans, which assess the tumour micro-biology, can be obtained in routine clinical setting. The radiological characteristics of the most common intra-ocular masses have been described extensively, enabling MRI to contribute to diagnoses. Additionally, MRI’s ability to non-invasively probe the tissue’s biological properties enables early detection of therapy response and potentially differentiates between high- and low-risk UM. MRI-based tumour dimensions are generally in agreement with conventional ultrasound (median absolute difference 0.5 mm), but MRI is considered more accurate in a subgroup of anteriorly located tumours. Although multiple studies propose that MRI’s 3D tumour visualisation can improve therapy planning, an evaluation of its clinical benefit is lacking. In conclusion, MRI is a complementary imaging modality for UM of which the clinical benefit has been shown by multiple studies.

Quantitative Diffusion-Weighted MR Imaging: Is There a Prognostic Role in Noninvasively Predicting the Histopathologic Type of Uveal Melanomas?

“…In the last two decades, DWI has been widely applied to investigate several pathological conditions in numerous anatomical regions, so its clinical applications have been constantly increasing [58][59][60][61][62][63]. The usefulness of DWI in the study of eye tumors, and in particular of UM, has been debated by various authors [64,65]. Sepahdari [43,69].…”

Geometrical accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging for ocular proton therapy planning

“…Ocular Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) offers three-dimensional imaging with soft tissue contrast that is superior to other imaging modalities, such as ultrasound and Computed Tomography (CT) [5] , [6] . Therefore, it is increasingly used in ocular oncology for diagnosis, treatment decision making and treatment preparation [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] .…”