Læknablaðið - 15.12.1984, Page 28

342
LÆKNABLADID
um með langa sögu um einkenni farnast jafnt
á við pá sem ieituðu fljótt læknis eftir að
einkenni byrjuðu (2). Að öðru leyti hefur petta
atriði verið lítið rannsakað.
Eftirtöldum adilum er pökkud veitt aðstoö: Visindasjóði
fyrir styrk til rannsóknar þessarar, Guðmundi Björnssyni og
Helga Sigvaldasyni fyrir yfirlestur handrits og ganglegar
ábendingar, Jónasi Ragnarssyni fyrir aðstoð við frágang
mynda.
SUMMARY
During the 25 year period of 1955 to 1979, 29 cases
of malignant melanoma of the choroid andciliary
body and 4 cases of melanoma of the iris were
diagnosed in Iceland. 78,6 % of all eye cancers and
0.29 % of all malignant neoplasms recorded in the
country were uveal melanomas. Excluding the iris
melanomas, the mean annual incidence rate per
100000, adjusted to standardized »Icelandic« popu-
lation, was 0.7 in males and 0.5 in females. No
change in the incidence rate was noted in five five
year periods, 1955-1979. There was no significant
difference in incidence rates between urban and
rural regions.
In 31. of December 1982 19 patients with melano-
ma of the choroid and ciliary body were dead and in
9 cases the cause of death was melanoma meatasta-
sis. All deaths in metastasis occurred within five
years from enucleation. In no case was metastasis
found before enucleation. Life table analysis was
used in computing surviva! rates but no account
could be taken of age distribution. Five year survival
rates for all patients was 51 %, 64 % in males and
30 % females. The difference of survival in relation
to length of history was not significant.
HEIMILDIR
1) Jensen OA. Malignant melanomas of the uvea in
Denmark 1943-1952. Copenhagen: University
of Copenhagen, 1963. (Thesis).
2) Raivio I. Uveal melanoma in Finland. An
epidemiological, clinical, histological and pro-
gnostic study. Copenhagen: Scriptor, 1977.
3) Bjarnason O, Tulinius H. Cancer Registration in
Iceland 1955-1974. Copenhagen: Munksgaard,
1983.
4) Jensen OA. Malignant melanomas of the human
uvea. 25-year follow-up of cases in Denmark,
1943-1952. Acta opthal. (Kbh) 1982; 60: 164-82.
5) Tulinius H, Sigvaldason H. Aldursstöðlun. Lbl.
1978;64: 133-6.
6) Colton Th. Statistics in medicine. Boston: Little,
Brown and Company, 1974.
7) Sigvaldason H. Personal communication. 1984.
8) International Classification of Diseases. Gene-
va: World Health Organization, 1977.
9) Scotto J, Fraumeni JF, Lee JAH. Melanomas of
the eye and other noncutaneous sites: Epidemi-
ologic aspects. J Natl Cancer Inst 1976; 56: 489-
91.
10) Abrahamsson M. Malignant melanoma of the
choroid and the ciliary body 1956-1975 in
Halland and Gothenburg. Incidence, histopa-
thology and prognosis. Acta ophthal. (Kbh)
1983; 61: 600-10.
11) Halulinen T, Teppo L, Saxén E. Cancer of the
eye, a review of trends and differentials. Wrld
Hlth Stat Quart 1978; 31: 143-58.
12) Magnus K. Trends in cancer incidence. New
York: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation,
1982.
13) Zimmerman LE, McLean IW, Foster WD. Does
encucleation of the eye containing a malignant
melanoma prevent or accelerate the dissemina-
tion of tumour cells? Br J Opthalmol 1978; 62:
420-5.
14) Seigel D, Myers M, Frederick F, Steinhorn SC.
Survival rates after enucleation of eyes with
malignant melanoma. Am J Opthalmol 1979; 87:
761-5.
15) Shields JA. Changing trends in the management
of choroidal melanomas. Trans Pacific Coast
Oto-Opthalmol 1979; 60: 215-25.