Choroidal Melanoma

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Abstract
To the Editor. —Drs Manschot and van Peperzeel (Archives 98:71-77, 1980) have presented a model based on tumor doubling time for the study of uveal melanomas. While we find this kind of model useful in trying to understand the behavior of tumors, we believe that theirs is an oversimplification and that some of the assumptions they have built into the model are not applicable to uveal melanomas. Unfortunately, these simplifications and assumptions profoundly affect the conclusions reached regarding the behavior of uveal melanomas. The first assumption we question is that melanomas in metastatic sites grow at the same rate as does the primary intraocular tumor. From our experience with cases that underwent autopsy in which death occurred before any therapy, we know that metastatic tumors grow faster than the primary intraocular melanoma. In these cases,1 the metastases have grown to a combined weight of several kilograms, while the intraocular