Second primary malignant tumors in patients with ocular melanoma

Multiple primary malignant tumors have been documented with increased frequency over the last two decades. Continuously increasing success of modern oncotherapy has led to long-term remissions in many cases, but this success rate poses a growing risk for the development of second primary malignancies. The incidence of those involving an intraocular tumor is relatively rare. In the present study we report five ocular melanoma patients with second primary malignant tumors diagnosed during a fourteen-year period in our department. We wish to emphasize that an intraocular mass lesion in a patient with a history of a previous malignancy should not be dismissed as a metastatic lesion. The diagnosis of an intraocular lesion as a separate primary tumor drastically changes the prognosis and the therapeutic approach.