Ultrasonographic tissue characteristics of mushroom-shaped uveal melanoma.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the ultrasonographic tissue characteristics of mushroom-shaped versus dome-shaped uveal melanoma and to compare them with the tumor vasculature.


METHODS
We examined clinically and ultrasonically 18 dome-shaped and 11 mushroom-shaped uveal melanomas (29 consecutive patients; mean age 57 years) and compared their normalized A-scan patterns. Using histological sections from a different set of patients (12 dome- and 17 mushroom-shaped tumors), we calculated the percentage of area covered by blood vessels.


RESULTS
A-scans of dome-shaped tumors presented low homogeneous reflectivity, whereas the heads of mushroom-shaped tumors had high and irregular reflectivity (p < 0.001). The reflectivity of their bases was low and similar to dome-shaped tumors. The blood vessel area in the histological sections was significantly larger in the heads of mushroom-shaped tumors (0.88 +/- 0.14%), compared both to their bases (0.29 i 0.06%) (p < 0.001) and to dome-shaped tumors (0.07 i 0.03%) (p < 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
The ultrasonographic pattern suggests vascular congestion in the heads of mushroom-shaped tumors,probably due to strangulated blood vessels in the tumor neck.
Kaiserman
Igor
I
Department of Ophthalmology, Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. Igor@Dr-Kaiserman.com
Amer
Radgonde
R
Kaiserman
Nadia
N
Pe'er
Jacob
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014604:Uveal Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology