Location of the Orbital Tumor was Deeply Related to the Symptom

We reviewed surgical cases of primary orbital tumors at our institution past 10 years, and studied the size, pathology, tumor location in the orbit, and the symptom of the patient in 47 consecutive patients.

Results: Among the 47 case, regarding the location in the orbit, 27 were intraconal, 8 were extraconal, and 12 were in the lacrimal gland area. Among the intraconal tumor, 6 were located orbital apex area. The size of the tumor of the apically located were 1.6+/−1.6 ml. The size of the non-apical and intraconal tumor were 7.5+/−4.4 ml. The tumor in the apex were significantly smaller than the non-apex tumor. Regarding the symptom of the patient, all of the apically located tumor case show the visual disturbance preoperatively. On the other hand, the patent with the non-apically located tumor were show the disturbance 3 among 21 cases.

Conclusions: The visual disturbance was the main symptom of the apically located intra-orbital tumor. Even the small tumor in the apex area may cause the visual loss.