Cystic lesions of the orbit.
OBJECTIVE
Cystic lesions of the orbit constitute a group of lesions with diverse clinical findings, histopathologic features and pathogenesis.


METHODS
We reviewed the histopathologic and clinical records on 128 orbital cystic lesions diagnosed during a 32-year period from 1963 to 1995.


RESULTS
Of the 128 orbital cystic lesions, dermoid cysts were the most frequent (38 cases, 29.7%). The other lesions, in decreasing order of frequency, were hydatid cysts (33 cases, 25.8%), mucoceles (31 cases, 24.2%), pyoceles (10 cases, 7.8%), meningoencephaloceles (9 cases, 7.0%), epidermal inclusion cysts (4 cases, 3.1%), hematoceles (2 cases, 1.6%) and teratoma (one case, 0.8%).


CONCLUSIONS
Our review showed that 64.1% of patients with cystic lesions were aged 18 years or less. With the exception of mucopyoceles, all the other cystic lesions were more frequent in pediatric patients. Cystic lesions behaved clinically as benign lesions. At a mean follow-up of 6.7 years we did not observe development of malignancy in any of the cystic tumor cases though variable degrees of vision loss developed due to factors such as optic nerve compression, ocular damage and amblyopia.
Günalp
I
I
Ocular Oncology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara University, Turkey.
Gündüz
K
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003560:Cysts / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008875:Middle Aged; D009916:Orbital Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014792:Visual Acuity