Khan et al1 reported the results of a multicenter international study to identify representative epidemiological, clinical, and pathological characteristics of melanoma of the iris. Their conclusion states, “This multicenter, Internet-based, international study successfully pooled data and extracted information on biopsy-proven melanoma of the iris.”1
In the third paragraph of their article, Khan et al reference 9 “reports of clinical and histopathologic prognostics and outcomes for treatment,”1 one of which was published in 1981 by Frederick A. Jakobiec, MD, DSc, and myself, entitled “Are Most Iris ‘Melanomas’ Really Nevi? A Clinicopathologic Study of 189 Lesions.”2 Khan et al state, “However, these studies had several limitations. First, they included many patients whose tumor diagnosis was not histologically confirmed.”1 I would like to point out that our study was a retrospective clinicopathologic study of 189 melanocytic lesions (103 purely iris and 86 involving iris and ciliary body). All 189 cases were drawn from the files of the Algernon B. Reese Laboratory of Ophthalmic Pathology at the Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute, Columbia University, New York, New York. Lesions coded in the files as iris melanomas were reviewed. Histopathologic examination was the cornerstone of our comprehensive study.