title: [Orbital metastasis from cutaneous melanoma].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We report the case of a patient presenting with a one-sided orbital metastasis from a cutaneous melanoma, and analyze clinical features, diagnostic difficulties and prognosis of such metastasis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report the case of a woman aged 70 years, who presented with a right one-sided proptosis associated to a decrease of the vision. The clinical features were: visual acuity at 2/10, an axile proptosis and a papillary sectorial temporal atrophy. The computed tomography (CT) disclosed an intraorbital mass with double tonality, rounded and well limited driving back the optic nerve and erasing the limits of the lateral rectus muscle. The orbital magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed an intra-conal fusiform mass with an heterogeneous signal in T1 and T2, heightening intensely and heterogeneously after the injection of Gadolinium. Otherwise, the patient presented with an associated respiratory failure, and thoracic CT has disclosed diffuse metastases. It was then noted that a cutaneous melanoma of the left foot had been operated ten years before. The patient died during the following month.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The cutaneous melanoma is a rare cause of orbital metastasis. The diagnosis is often easy, when a primitive tumor is known, but it remains uncertain for a long time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Orbital metastases from cutaneous melanoma are rare, generally occurring at the late stage of the disease with a life expectancy not passing one year.
authors.affiliation: Service d'ophtalmologie, Centre hospitalo universitaire Farhat Hached, Sousse, Tunisie. fafani.benhamida@rns.tn
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ben Hadj Hamida
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fezani
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ben Amor
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Krifa
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chaabani
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Khalfallah
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yacoubi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ben Rayana
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary*; D009918:Orbital Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*