title: CAVERNOUS HEMANGIOMALIKE CHANGES IN A CHOROIDAL MELANOMA AFTER BRACHYTHERAPY.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe a degenerative vascular change in a treated choroidal melanoma that clinically simulated late treatment failure.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational case report.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 79-year-old man with choroidal melanoma treated 15 years earlier with iodine-125 brachytherapy demonstrated substantial increase in size of this once stable tumor. The eye was removed because of concern of late treatment failure. Histologically, the tumor consisted of melanocytes with no mitotic activity and virtually no Ki-67 expression. Roughly half the lesion was composed of cavernous blood-filled spaces lined by bland CD34+ and CD31+ endothelial cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Late degenerative changes in the vasculature of treated uveal melanoma can result in tumor enlargement, which may raise clinical concerns over treatment failure and neoplastic potential.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Ophthalmology, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida; †Department of Pathology, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Tampa, Florida; and ‡Section of Ophthalmology, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Tampa, Florida.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.forename: Jean G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Curtis E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Margo
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Pavan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001918:Brachytherapy; D002830:Choroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D015353:Eye Enucleation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000473:pathology; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology*; D014604:Uveal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D000098943:Uveal Melanoma