Case Report

Case Reports of Three Patients Showing Optic Nerve Head Melanocytoma and Systemic Hypertension
Subashini Kaliaperumal, Arvind Gupta, Benjamin Nongrum, Vasudev Anand Rao, Renuka Srinivasan

Department of Ophthalmology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry,India

Address of Corresponding Author

Ophthalmologica 2007;221:62-64 (DOI: 10.1159/000096525)

  Key Words

• Melanocytoma
• Optic nerve head
• Hypertension
• Urinary vanillylmandelic acid
• Adrenal medullary hyperplasia

  Abstract

Purpose: To report the association of optic disk melanocytoma with systemic hypertension. Cases: Ocular examination of 3 asymptomatic hypertensive patients revealed a pigmented lesion over the optic disk. After clinical examination and radiological evaluation a diagnosis of optic disk melanocytoma was made. One patient had a mild decrease in visual acuity associated with an increase in size of the lesion during the follow-up. Systemic evaluation revealed increased urinary vanillylmandelic acid in all the patients. MRI showed diffuse adrenal hyperplasia while a ¹³¹I-MIBG scan showed increased uptake in 1 case. Conclusions: Optic disk melanocytoma is a benign tumor though the lesion may increase in size with the resultant decrease in visual acuity over few years. It may be associated with systemic hypertension secondary to increased levels of catecholamines in the body, which is related to the common neural crest origin of melanocytes, adrenal medullary cells and chromaffin cells.

Copyright © 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Arvind Gupta, MS
Senior Resident, Department of Ophthalmology
Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research
Pondicherry 605 006 (India)
Tel. +91 413 227 2381, Fax +91 413 227 2067, E-Mail arvind_ophthal@yahoo.co.in

  Article Information

Received: January 26, 2006
Accepted after revision: June 23, 2006
Number of Print Pages : 3
Number of Figures : 1, Number of Tables : 0, Number of References : 8