Human infection by Dirofilaria repens in Serbia has been increasing steadily. The first case was reported in 1971, presented in the form of a single subcutaneous nodule on the back of a young boy. As established by a literature search, eight additional cases were reported until mid-2001. The most frequent site of infection was subcutaneous tissue, with the exception of two cases, in which parasites were found in subconjunctiva and epididymis. Our study, conducted from 2001 to 2008, encompasses 19 new cases. Most of them (63.1%) presented as ocular or periocular infections, in which the parasite was typically found under the conjunctiva. In other cases a parasitic nodule was localized in the temporal region of the head, epididymis, testicle, abdomen, breast or arm. The diagnosis was made by morphological and histological analysis of the extracted intact worms and parasite sections from the tissue. Morphology of the filarial worms was well preserved in more than half of the cases (12/19) and there was never more than one parasite found inside the lesions. Adult worms and immature nematodes were observed in nine and seven cases, respectively. Furthermore, in two cases microfilariae were discovered inside the pseudocoelom, sections of the female reproductive tubes filled with clearly visible larval stages. Dirofilaria repens infection was diagnosed by its morphological features (17/19) or by performing polymerase chain reactions (PCR) using paraffin-embedded tissues (2/19) in the cases where the morphology was insufficient for identification and the parasites had been determined initially as Dirofilaria spp. The amplified 246 bp PCR product showed that the worms were D. repens.

We present a case of a 41-year-old male patient who, 1 year after transhiatal esophagectomy and transmediastinal gastroplasty for an adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus, presented with an isolated metastasis in the choroids of the left eye. Because of pains caused by secondary glaucoma, enucleation of the left eyeball had to be performed as the treatment of choice. At 1 year after surgery of the eye, the secondaries in both adrenal glands were revealed. Despite the applied chemotherapy, the patient died with signs of generalized disease 3 years after the initial surgery.

Corneal and limbal dermoids are uncommon choristomatous corneal tumors. They clinically present as round or oval, whitish or yellowish cones protruding on the anterior surface of the eyeball. They are composed of ectodermal (keratinized epithelium, hairs, sebaceous and sudoriferous glands, nerves, smooth muscles and, less frequently, teeth) and mesodermal elements (fibrous tissue, fat, blood vessels and cartilage) combined in different proportion. If fat dominates in histology of the tumor, it is called a lipodermoid. A case of a two-year old boy with a large corneal dermoid on the right eye is presented. Dermoid covered almost the whole cornea and was associated with adherence of the atrophic iris to the posterior corneal surface and partial congenital cataract. Surgical therapy included excision of dermoid together with the superficial lamellae of the corneal stroma and penetrating keratoplasty. Satisfactory tectonic and esthetic outcome was achieved and has been maintained for four postoperative years now.

The study comprised 61 patients with histologically diagnosed malignant melanoma of the conjunctiva (MMC) who were treated and followed up in the Department of Ophthalmology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, over a period of 24 years (1970-1993). Data on 15 clinical and 10 histopathological characteristics of MMC were related to the outcome of the disease. Tumour thickness on the histological section was the most important single predictor of survival in MMC. Other predictors of survival in MMC were the number of mitoses, the histologically assessed degree of tumour pigmentation and the intensity of inflammation at the tumour site. The variables entered into the model comprised as much as 85.3% of all predictors of survival in MMC.

A 50-year-old man presented with a reddish, well-vascularized mass in the region of a nasal iridodialysis of his left eye, pushing the whole iris in this sector forwards; the mass had a pinkish, partly cystic appearance in the pupil. The tumour was transparent on diaphanoscopy. A-scan sonography revealed a solid tumour of the ciliary body with partial retinal detachment suggesting a malignant melanoma. Fluorescein biomicroscopy did not confirm this suspicion. The enucleated eye demonstrated a malignant teratoid medulloepithelioma of the whole nasal and lower ciliary body, infiltrating the deep iris stroma, the anterior choroid, the neighbouring vitreous body and spreading along the inner retinal surface back to the equator of the eye. The occurrence of medulloepithelioma in adult and senior persons is rather exceptional and this is the reason for this publication.