title: Choroidal melanoma and pregnancy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Choroidal melanoma is a rare tumour in adults. The mean age at diagnosis is 60, but the tumour can affect women of childbearing age. A negative effect of pregnancy on patients' survival has not been formally excluded to date. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effect of pregnancy on the prognosis of choroidal melanoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a single-centre retrospective study at the Institut Curie on the population of women of childbearing age who were diagnosed with choroidal melanoma between June 1980 and October 2013. We took a particular interest in the prognosis of those who were pregnant at the time of diagnosis and in the prognosis of those who chose to get pregnant after the treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found 27 pregnant patients at the time of diagnosis and 13 patients who became pregnant after the treatment. There was no difference in the survival between these two groups of patients and the group of other women of childbearing age diagnosed with choroidal melanoma (p = 0.52). There was also no difference in metastasis-free survival (p = 0.91). Most women were able to carry their pregnancies to term (67% had a term pregnancy, and only 7% had an abortion). For women who were pregnant when they were diagnosed with choroidal melanoma, a conservative treatment was chosen in 85% of cases, and proton beam therapy was the most widely used treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Survival in women of childbearing age does not appear to be influenced by pregnancy. We show that proton beam therapy can be used to treat women who are pregnant at the time of choroidal melanoma diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, Paris Descartes University, Paris, France. stefaniele@free.fr.
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lemaître
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lévy-Gabriel
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Desjardins
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Corine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Plancher
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Asselain
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vincent-Salomon
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Livia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lumbroso-Le Rouic
authors.affiliation: Protontherapy Center (ICPO), Institut Curie, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Rémi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dendale
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rouzier
authors.affiliation: Protontherapy Center (ICPO), Institut Curie, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Delacroix
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, Paris Descartes University, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cassoux
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001918:Brachytherapy; D002830:Choroid Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D015353:Eye Enucleation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011252:Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: brachytherapy; choroidal melanoma; enucleation; pregnancy; proton beam therapy