Purpose

Epidemiological analysis of the choroidal melanoma cases sent from all over the Poland and treated in our clinic between January 1998 and December 2002.

Material and methods

The study included 687 patients with choroidal melanoma 348 women and 339 men. Results: The age of patients was 14-97 years (mean 56 years). The most numerous group consisted of patients between 60-70 years of age (22,7%). Most of the cases came from the regions of Malopolska, Silesia, Lower-Silesia and Mazovia. The time between first symptoms and the first visit in our clinic was between 1 week to 2 years. According to the COMS classification we found small melanoma in 13% of cases, medium in 51% and large in 36% of cases. We found the presence of other malignancies besides the choroidal melanoma in 4,3% patients. We analyzed the demography and positive family history of ocular and general malignancies in the patients.