title: Ocular melanoma metastasis to the cervical spine.
abstract: Ocular melanoma is a rare type of malignant melanoma. Melanoma metastatic to the spine typically arises within the vertebral column, presents with back pain, and has a poor prognosis. We present a patient with a unique disease course: ocular melanoma metastasis occurred after an extended latency period of 14 years, attained a large size within the spinal intradural space, presented with severe neurological deficits without additional central nervous system disease, and the tumor was amenable to surgical intervention. We also review the literature on melanoma spine metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Section of Neurosurgery, The University of Chicago Medical Center, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, MC 3026, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. sophiashakur@uchicago.edu
authors.forename: Sophia F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Shakur
authors.forename: Ippei
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.forename: Rimas V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Lukas
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chmura
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Gajewski
authors.forename: Ben Z
authors.initials: BZ
authors.lastname: Roitberg
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D005134:Eye Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery