Uveal melanoma (UM) and conjunctival melanoma (CM) are ocular malignancies that give rise to life-threatening metastases. Although local disease can often be treated successfully, it is often associated with significant vision impairment and treatments are often not effective against metastatic disease. Novel treatment modalities that preserve vision may enable elimination of small tumors and may prevent subsequent metastatic spread.

Very few mouse models of metastatic CM and UM are available for research and for development of novel therapies. One of the challenges is to follow tumor growth in-vivo and to determine the right size for treatment, mainly of the posterior, choroidal melanoma. Hence, the purpose of this study was to establish a simple, noninvasive imaging tool that will simplify visualization and tumor follow-up in mouse models of CM and UM.

Tumors were induced by inoculation of murine B16LS9 cells into the sub-conjunctival or the choroidal space of a C57BL/6 mouse eye under a surgical microscope. Five to ten days following injection, tumor size was assessed by Phoenix MicronIV™ image-guided Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging, which included a real-time camera view and OCT scan of the conjunctiva and the retina. In addition, tumor size was evaluated by ultrasound and histopathological examination of eye sections.

Tumor growth was observed 5–9 days following sub-conjunctival or sub-retinal injection of seven-thousand or seventy-thousand cells, respectively. A clear tumor mass was detected at these regions using the MicronIV™ imaging system camera and OCT scans. Histology of eye sections confirmed the presence of tumor tissue. OCT allowed an accurate measurement of tumor size in the UM model and a qualitative assessment of tumor size in the CM model. Moreover, OCT enabled assessing the success rate of the choroidal tumor induction and importantly, predicted final tumor size already on the day of cell inoculation.

In conclusion, by using a simple, non-invasive imaging tool, we were able to follow intraocular tumor growth of both CM and UM, and to define, already at the time of cell inoculation, a grading scale to evaluate tumor size. This tool may be utilized for evaluation of new mouse models for CM and UM, as well as for testing new therapies for these diseases.

葡萄膜黑色素瘤 (UM) 和结膜黑色素瘤 (CM) 是眼部恶性肿瘤，可导致危及生命的转移。虽然局部疾病通常可以成功治疗，但它通常与严重的视力障碍有关，并且治疗通常对转移性疾病无效。保留视力的新型治疗方式可以消除小肿瘤，并可以防止随后的转移性扩散。

很少有转移性 CM 和 UM 小鼠模型可用于研究和开发新疗法。挑战之一是在体内跟踪肿瘤生长并确定适合治疗的大小，主要是后部脉络膜黑色素瘤。因此，本研究的目的是建立一种简单的非侵入性成像工具，以简化 CM 和 UM 小鼠模型的可视化和肿瘤随访。

在手术显微镜下，通过将鼠 B16LS9 细胞接种到 C57BL/6 小鼠眼睛的结膜下或脉络膜空间中来诱导肿瘤。注射后五到十天，通过 Phoenix MicronIV™ 图像引导光学相干断层扫描 (OCT) 成像评估肿瘤大小，其中包括实时相机视图和结膜和视网膜的 OCT 扫描。此外，通过超声和​​眼部组织病理学检查评估肿瘤大小。

分别在结膜下或视网膜下注射 7000 个或 70000 个细胞后 5-9 天观察到肿瘤生长。使用 MicronIV™ 成像系统相机和 OCT 扫描在这些区域检测到清晰的肿瘤块。眼部切片的组织学证实了肿瘤组织的存在。OCT 允许在 UM 模型中准确测量肿瘤大小，并在 CM 模型中对肿瘤大小进行定性评估。此外，OCT 能够评估脉络膜肿瘤诱导的成功率，重要的是，在细胞接种当天就可以预测最终肿瘤大小。

总之，通过使用简单的非侵入性成像工具，我们能够跟踪 CM 和 UM 的眼内肿瘤生长，并在细胞接种时定义分级量表来评估肿瘤大小。该工具可用于评估 CM 和 UM 的新小鼠模型，以及测试这些疾病的新疗法。