Prognosis:

  • Patients who die from ciliary body melanoma die because of distant metastasis, not local spread
  • Frequently disseminates before diagnosis
  • Overall mortality rate of ciliary body melanoma is 30-50% within 10 years of diagnosis
  • Ciliary body and anterior choroidal melanomas have worse prognosis than posterior choroidal melanomas
  • Possible reasons=delayed diagnosis or easier regional path to hematogenous spread
  • Increased vascularization=worse prognosis