Background: The differentiation of iridic space-occupying lesions represents a regularly reoccurring diagnostic challenge.
Objective: This article presents an overview of the epidemiological data and describes the diagnostic procedure for iris tumors.
Material and methods: The article provides a review of the literature from PubMed and own clinical results.
Results: Melanocytic lesions comprise the vast majority of all iris tumors and include nevi and melanomas. Slit lamp biomicroscopy with standardized photography reveals two-dimensional planar tumor growth over time, which is the only recognized clinical surrogate finding for a malignant event. Ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) is additionally obligatory because it is the only method which enables documentation of the extent of tumor penetration, ciliary body involvement and internal structure of iris tumors.
Conclusion: Serial slit lamp and UBM examinations with reproducible pupillary diameters are indispensable for the differentiation of cystic, solid and tumor-simulating lesions and for the detection of malignant transformation in iris tumors.
Keywords: Iris cyst; Iris melanoma; Iris nevus; Slit lamp biomicroscopy; Ultasound biomicroscopy.