Screening for second cancers recommended for those with choroidal melanoma

Medical surveillance of patients diagnosed and treated for choroidal melanoma is warranted to monitor the development of second primary cancers, according to a study. This is especially important among patients with a history of smoking, the study authors noted.

The Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study (COMS) Group prospectively followed a group of 2,320 patients enrolled in the study who had no evidence of melanoma metastasis or other primary cancer at baseline.

After treatment for their choroidal melanomas, 222 patients were diagnosed with a second primary cancer. The most common sites were prostate (23% of the reported cases) and breast (17%). Of the 222 patients, 12 were diagnosed simultaneously with second primary cancers in two or more sites.

More than half of the 222 patients died; 37 were coded as having died with melanoma metastasis, 33 as dead with a malignant tumor other than metastatic melanoma and 13 as dead with a malignancy of uncertain origin, the COMS Group said.

The rate of diagnosis of a second primary cancer did not differ significantly by smoking status; however, the rate in former smokers was increased compared with that in either current smokers or those who had never smoked.

The study is published in the May issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.