Indocyanine green angiography: perspective on use for identifying the malignant vasculature of choroidal melanoma (review)

Choroidal melanoma refers to malignant tumors characterized by high aggressiveness in terms of local distribution, the occurrence of loco-regional and distant metastasis, which determines its high social value. The risks of metastatic disease depend on the size of the tumor, timing of observation, clinical and morphological characteristics and genetic factors. This review presents data on the study of aspects of the development and growth of choroidal melanoma, in terms of neoangiogenesis and the phenomenon of vasculogenic mimicry, the capabilities of indocyanine green angiography in identifying abnormal vascular network of the tumor. The relevance of this question is determined by the characteristics of the development of choroidal melanoma, which can occur as de novo or by malignant transformation of pigmented nevi and the critical point for its development is the tumor thickness of more than 2 mm, which starts the process of neoangiogenesis. Indocyanine green angiography, which is aimed at the identification of vascular network of choroidal melanoma plays an important role not only in the differential diagnosis of this pathological condition, but is of considerable practical interest in planning treatment, assessing its effectiveness and predicting the risk of metastatic process development. Methods used to find, select, obtain information and synthesize data: search for information on the Internet: Google Scholar, PubMed, eLibrary. The number of sources is 39 (from 1974 to 2019).