CONGENITAL MALIGNANT-MELANOMA OF THE EYE

Twenty-three cases of congenital malignant melanoma have previously been reported. Here the authors report the first case of a congenital malignant melanoma arising in the eye. A newborn girl had a large pigmented ocular tumor, hepatomegaly, and multiple pigmented skin and choroidal lesions. The histopathologic diagnosis was of a malignant melanoma with hepatic metastases. The skin and choroidal lesions were considered to be congenital melanocytic nevi. The most plausible pathogenetic link between these two conditions was that the malignancy had arisen as a second-hit mutation within a choroidal congenital melanocytic nevus. Despite widespread metastases the baby, treated by surgery and chemotherapy, survives in good health, aged 2 years, 10 months.