Possibilities for Identifying the Malignant Vasculature of Choroidal Melanoma

Abstract

Choroidal melanoma is the most common and life-threatening intraocular malignant neoplasm affecting the eye choroid in about 90 % of cases. The incidence varies from 0.7 to 1.1 per 100,000 of the population. This category of malignant neoplasms is highly aggressive in terms of local distribution, the occurrence of loco-regional and distant metastases. According to various authors, the frequency of metastasis reaches up to 50 %, the risks of metastatic disease depend on the size of the tumor, the duration of observation, clinical and pathomorphological characteristics of the choroidal melanoma and genetic factors. This article provides a detailed literature review on the developmental aspects and growth dynamics of choroidal melanoma from the point of view of neoangiogenesis and the phenomenon of vasculogenic mimicry, and the possibilities of instrumental diagnostics for determining the malignant vasculature of a tumor. The relevance of studying this issue is determined by the peculiarities of the origin of choroidal melanoma, which can occur both de novo and due to malignant transformation from nevus cells and the critical point for it is a tumor thickness of more than 2 mm, at in which the the process of neoangiogenesis starts. This review details the role of various methods of instrumental diagnostics, such as doppler ultrasound imaging to determine the presence or absence of blood flow in the tumor and its blood flow characteristics, angiography using contrasts: fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography, and optical coherent tomography—angiography to identify the malignant vasculature and evaluation of tumor angioarchitectonics. It has been shown that in the diagnosis of especially small choroid melanomas, which are of significant diagnostic complexity, a multimodal approach using the above research methods is important. There is no doubt that these instrumental technologies aimed to identify the malignant vasculature of choroidal melanoma play a large role not only in diagnosis, but also are of considerable practical interest in planning treatment, in assessing its effectiveness, and also in predicting the risks of metastatic process development.