Association of high metabolic activity measured by positron emission tomography imaging with poor prognosis of choroidal melanoma.

Abstract

To evaluate the prognostic value of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging in patients with choroidal melanoma. We undertook a retrospective review of 40 consecutive patients with choroidal melanoma who underwent pretreatment whole-body PET, received either brachytherapy using ruthenium-106 plaque, enucleation or gamma knife radiotherapy, and had 1 year of follow-up. Metabolic activity of choroidal melanoma measured as standardised uptake value (SUV) by PET imaging was evaluated with respect to the survival of patients. SUV (p=0.003) and the largest basal diameter of the tumour (p=0.003) were significantly correlated with metastatic death (Cox proportional hazards regression). There was an inverse correlation between tumour metabolic activity and time to metastasis (p=0.049; linear regression). Metabolic activity by PET imaging significantly predicted the survival of patients with choroidal melanoma.