Overview of Uveal Melanoma

Transcript:

Marlana M. Orloff, M.D.: Hello, and welcome to CURE®'s Educated Patient Sound Bites on metastatic uveal melanoma. I’m Dr. Marlana Orloff, an associate professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I’ll be offering insights about uveal melanoma. I’ll also be discussing the only currently FDA-approved first-line treatment for patients with metastatic uveal melanoma.

What is uveal melanoma? What are the risk factors?

Marlana M. Orloff, M.D.: Uveal melanoma, sometimes called ocular melanoma or eye melanoma, is the most common eye tumor in adults, but it is a very rare subtype of melanoma, only affecting about six per million people. We don’t know what causes eye melanoma. Unlike skin melanoma, we don’t think UV [ultraviolet radiation] is the cause. However, risk factors are similar to eye melanoma in being fair skinned and having light eyes. For most patients with eye melanoma, it is a spontaneous disorder, meaning it isn’t necessarily inherited. But in about 1% to 2% of all eye melanoma, they can inherit a genetic mutation called BAP1 syndrome.

Transcript edited for clarity.