Sclerochorioretinal resection for choroidal melanoma: a clinicopathologic correlation of a postmortem eye

A 51-year-old patient underwent a technically successful sclerochorioretinal resection with scleral graft for a medium-sized choroidal melanoma, which proved to be of mixed cell type. Though there was complete resection of the tumor and a favorable visual result, the patient developed metastatic melanoma and died 42 months after the original diagnosis and 34 months after the surgical procedure. Postmortem examination of the involved eye demonstrated excellent anatomic preservation of intraocular structures. Of particular interest was the lack of ischemic necrosis in the anterior segment in spite of surgical disinsertion of two rectus muscles and the ablation of the medial long ciliary artery.