Partial lamellar sclerouvectomy of ciliary body tumors in a Korean population

Purpose: To describe the clinical characteristics of ciliary body tumors, surgical outcomes, and factors associated with poor visual outcome and metastasis. Design: Retrospective case series. Methods: Medical records of 27 patients with ciliary body tumors who underwent partial lamellar sclerouvectomy in a single-center setting (Seoul, South Korea) were reviewed. Surgical outcomes were reviewed, and clinical characteristics were analyzed with respect to visual prognosis and globe retention rate. Results: Tumors were diagnosed histopathologically as benign in 8 (30%) cases and as melanoma in 19 (70%) cases. Patients had a median age of 48 years. The median follow-up was 3.5 years (range, 0.5 to 6 years). The tumors had a median diameter of 11 mm and a median thickness of 9 mm. The globe was retained in 20 (74%) eyes, with visual acuity of 20/400 or better in 13 (48%) eyes and 20/40 or better in 6 (22%) eyes. Choroidal involvement of tumor (P =.003), larger diameter of tumor (P <.001), and thicker tumor (P <.001) were associated with poor visual outcome. Local recurrence (P =.003) and presence of epithelioid cells (P =.040) were predictive factors for metastasis in melanoma patients. Kaplan-Meier estimates of metastasis-free survival at 3 and 5 years for melanoma patients were 82% and 55%, respectively. Conclusions: Partial lamellar sclerouvectomy is a reasonable primary therapeutic option in ciliary body tumors, and good visual prognosis is expected in selected cases.