Human intraocular tumors and tumors derived from human tumor cell lines grown s.c. in the athymic nude mouse were scanned by diagnostic ultrasound. Radiofrequency scan data were converted to digital form and analyzed in the frequency domain. Characteristics of normalized power spectra were significantly different among human spindle cell malignant melanomas, mixed/epithelioid malignant melanomas, metastatic carcinomas, and hemangiomas. Significant differences, as well, were found between implanted primary skin malignant melanomas and adenocarcinomas of the lung, colon, and stomach. Comparison of spectral properties of human intraocular and implanted tumors revealed that human spindle cell malignant melanomas and implanted melanomas exhibit similar characateristics. Human intraocular metastatic tumors from the lung were found to exhibit characteristics similar to those of implanted lung tumors. These results indicate that the implantation of human tumor cell lines in the nude mouse may provide a very useful model for application of diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound modalities to human intraocular tumors.