Acta Ophthalmol Scand

Clinical study of [123I] N-(2-diethylaminoethyl)-4-iodobenzamide in the diagnosis of primary and metastatic ocular melanoma.

Year 1998
Bacin F. Michelot J. Bonafous J. Veyre A. Moreau MF. Kemeny JL. Chossat F. Bekhechi D.
CHU Gabriel Montpied, Service d'Ophtalmologie, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
PURPOSE: To assess the value of scintigraphy with [123I]N-(2-diethylaminoethyl)-4-iodobenzamide (BZA), a phase II clinical trial was performed on 48 patients with a suspicion of ocular melanoma. METHODS: 56 examinations were performed to image lesions with a clinical diagnosis of primary ocular melanoma before and/or after treatment, to observe the results in simulating lesions or to image metastases. RESULTS: Ocular BZA-scintigraphy demonstrated a sensitivity of 86%, and a specificity of 83%. Whole-body scintigraphy was used in the follow-up of treated patients and could be repeated. We imaged orbital recurrence, known and occult metastases, specially in the liver. After 9 conservative treatments ocular BZA-scintigraphy was negative in 9 eyes. CONCLUSION: The BZA-scintigraphy in combination with other diagnostic procedures appeared to be a suitable method in the diagnosis of ocular melanoma and a potentially useful imaging modality to screen for ocular malignant melanoma metastases.