Orbital exenteration: a 13 year Manchester experience.
OBJECTIVE
Orbital exenteration is a psychologically and anatomically disfiguring procedure reserved for the treatment of potentially life threatening malignancies or relentlessly progressive conditions unresponsive to other treatments. In this study the authors aimed to review their experience with exenteration, including indications, outcomes, and reasons for the increased rate of exenterations over the past 15 months.


METHODS
This retrospective study reviewed operating department records via a computerised database to identify all patients who had undergone exenteration of the orbit from 1 January 1991 to 1 April 2004 inclusive, at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. Where case records were unavailable, attempts were made to obtain patient data from general practitioners, local health authorities, and referring hospitals.


RESULTS
69 orbits of 68 patients were identified. The mean age of the cohort was 68.2 years, with 33 males and 35 females having undergone exenterations. In total, 31 patients had previously undergone treatments undertaken by the referring specialty with a mean time from the primary procedure to exenteration of 115 months. 14 different tumours were encountered, of which basal cell carcinoma (28), melanoma (10), sebaceous cell carcinoma (nine), and squamous cell carcinoma (six) were the most common. An increasing incidence was observed in cases of BCCs requiring exenteration. 30 patients received orbital prosthesis within an 11 month period post-exenteration.


CONCLUSIONS
Exenteration is a procedure performed with increasing frequency in this unit over the past 15 months, the majority the result of BCCs. A large proportion of these exenterations had undergone previous treatments under a variety of non-ophthalmic specialties in other units. Exenterations are disfiguring procedures that may, therefore, be reduced in incidence by aggressive removal at the time of primary removal. Once performed, the cosmetic rehabilitation is long, with multiple postoperative visits, independent of the method used to close the orbital defect.
Rahman
I
I
Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Lister Centre, Nelson Street, Manchester M13 9WL, UK. imran1973@tiscali.co.uk
Cook
A E
AE
Leatherbarrow
B
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004739:England; D005134:Eye Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D005142:Eyelid Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009915:Orbit / Q000601:surgery; D017233:Orbit Evisceration / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020273:Orbital Implants; D009918:Orbital Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome