Bilateral diffuse uveal melanocytic proliferation and uterine cancer. A case report

Abstract

PURPOSE: To report a case of bilateral diffuse uveal melanocytic proliferation (BDUMP), a rare paraneoplastic syndrome causing visual loss in patients with systemic carcinoma. RESULTS: A 70-year-old woman developed visual symptoms 13 months after surgery and local irradiation therapy for uterine cancer. Following bilateral external beam irradiation supplemented with subsequent drainage of subretinal fluid in the left eye, the visual acuity improved from 0.01 to 0.15 in this eye only. The visual acuity remained at this level until she died 4 1/4 years after the onset of eye symptoms. CONCLUSION: This is the fourth case that survived longer than 24 months after the onset of visual symptoms of the 22 previously reported cases with BDUMP. It demonstrates that radiotherapy may have a vision-preserving effect in this group of patients. The patient also developed two different paraneoplastic phenomena--a nephrotic syndrome before and BDUMP after treatment for uterine cancer.