Fewer malignant conjunctival tumors seen in children

PHILADELPHIA – Conjunctival tumors in children statistically are more often benign than those in adults and can be differentiated by using a set of markers, a speaker said at the Wills Eye Conference.

While a recent analysis of 5,000 conjunctival tumors found 50% to be benign and 50% to be premalignant or malignant, the study did not take age into consideration, Carol L. Shields, MD, said. Therefore, a new analysis conducted with 806 cases of conjunctival tumors occurring in children was completed, which showed that only 3% of their tumors were malignant.

Carol L. Shields

“The number one tumor was conjunctival nevus in over 61% of cases and then dermoid and dermolipoma,” Shields said. “So only 3% were malignant, melanoma or lymphoma, in children.”

In addition, the analysis studied clinical features that differentiated lymphoma from benign reactive lymphoid hyperplasia and nevus from melanoma.

In the former, lymphoma could be distinguished from benign reactive lymphoid hyperplasia because it is significantly larger and more diffuse whereas benign reactive lymphoid hyperplasia is more localized, Shields said.

In comparing melanoma and nevus in children, the age of the patient was significant in the analysis in that older children were more likely to have melanoma while younger patients had nevus. However, there were no significant differences in sex, eye color, race or location. Melanoma was significantly thicker and less often contained cysts, while it did more often produce hemorrhaging, according to Shields. – by Rebecca L. Forand

Reference:

Shields C. Conjunctival tumors in children in 806 cases. Analysis differentiating benign from malignant tumors. Presented at: Wills Eye Conference; March 9-11, 2017; Philadelphia.

Disclosure: Shields reports no relevant financial disclosures