Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in the Follow-Up of Choroidal Melanoma Patients: Features of Liver Metastasis Arising Several Years after Treatment of the Primary Tumor

Abstract

Choroidal melanoma is an insidious tumor frequently causing late liver metastases which are associated with a poor outcome. Since metastatic liver lesions are potentially resectable with curative intention, tight follow-up schedules after treatment of primary tumors for the early detection of liver metastasis have been proposed. The methods employed so far, however, have proven to be of limited sensitivity, and it is likely that a combined approach comprising the use of both imaging techniques and biohumoral markers will, in the future, improve the efficacy of methods directed to the early detection of liver metastases. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is increasingly used in the clinic due to its advantage over conventional sonography for the early detection of tumor lesions and thus represents a promising accurate and cost-effective diagnostic tool. To our knowledge, its use has not been proposed yet for the early diagnosis of metastatic choroidal cancer. Here, we describe for the first time the CEUS features of a large liver metastasis originating from choroidal cancer occurring 13 years after diagnosis in comparison to MRI and conventional sonography and propose CEUS as routine follow-up method for the early detection of liver metastases of patients affected by choroidal melanoma.

Keywords

• Contrast-enhanced ultrasound
• Choroidal melanoma
• Metastasis