Eye and orbital malignancies: An overview

Abstract

Orbital tumors are classified based on where they occur within the orbit as intraconal, extraconal, and intracanalicular lesions. Patients with larger orbital lesions may present with proptosis and diplopia due to extraocular muscle involvement or mass effect, whereas dry eye symptoms are associated with lacrimal gland lesions. Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common primary orbital malignancy in children that invades the base of the skull from the orbit. The most common primary malignant orbital tumors in adults are the lymphoproliferative lesions of the orbit and adnexa, which accounts for up to 20% of all orbital masses and malignant lymphoma is common in above 60 years. Orbital lymphomas are mostly anterior and extraconal lesions. Hemangiopericytomas are rare encapsulated tumors with a propensity towards the superior orbit. They are often more aggressive and can spread through the orbit and intracranially. Optic pathway gliomas (OPG) are the most frequent tumors of the optic nerve. In most individuals, proptosis is the primary symptom unless it is localised posterior to the optic chiasma. Computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or both is regards as the gold standard for imaging of ocular and orbital malignancy. CT is useful for visualization of bony structures and identifying tumor erosion or hyperostosis of bone, while MRI is advised for imaging soft tissue structures and apical tumors. Conservative management with clinical and radiographic studies is often chosen unless patients have progressive optic nerve dysfunction, visual loss, proptosis, progressive visual field changes, or evidence of hypothalamic invasion. Management of progressive disease typically consists of chemotherapy, in select cases, radiotherapy, as supplementary or alternative therapy to surgery. In this paper, we reviewed several articles on orbital and ocular cancers and summarized. This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.