Iris extramedullary hematopoiesis in choroidal melanoma

Beatrice Gallo; Rana'a T Al-Jamal; Caroline Thaung; Victoria M L Cohen

doi:10.4103/1319-4534.305034

Iris extramedullary hematopoiesis in choroidal melanoma

Saudi J Ophthalmol. 2020 Dec 28;34(2):82-84. doi: 10.4103/1319-4534.305034. eCollection 2020 Apr-Jun.

Authors

Beatrice Gallo^{1

2}, Rana'a T Al-Jamal³, Caroline Thaung⁴, Victoria M L Cohen^{1

2

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Ocular Oncology Service, Moorfields Eye Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
² Ocular Oncology Service, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
³ Ocular Oncology Service, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, UK.
⁵ NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Ophthalmology at Moorfields Eye Hospital and University College London, Institute of Ophthalmology, London, UK.

Abstract

Purpose: Extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) usually occurs in patients with loss of bone marrow hematopoietic function, and in a vast majority of cases, it involves the liver, the spleen, or the lymph nodes. We report EMH in the iris of patients enucleated for choroidal melanoma (CM).

Methods: We report a series of three patients with CM, two treated with primary enucleation and one with secondary enucleation.

Results: Histopathology revealed EMH in the iris of all patients.

Conclusion: EMH of the iris can be associated with CM in the absence of any hematological or systemic disorders. To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first report of this abnormal histopathological finding.

Keywords: Choroidal melanoma; enucleation; iris extramedullary hematopoiesis.