Microsurgical treatment for orbital tumors

Objective To sum up the clinical characteristics of orbital tumors and to discuss the neurosurgical approaches and the treatment of orbital tumors.Methods From 1997 to 2003,31 patients including 20 males and 11 females with orbital space-occupying lesions had been surgically treated in Tongji Hospital.Their age ranged from 15 to 59 years with an average of 38 years.They were symptomatic for 1 months to 10 years.All patients were followed-up from 1 to 5 years by imaging studies and ophthalmological investigation.Results The most common diagnosis was meningioma,and other were inflammatory pseudotumor,fibroma and hemangioma.Among them,total removal was achieved in 27 patients,subtotal removal in 2 patients and no patient died.There was no serious postoperative(complication).Eighty percent of the patients improved on visual acuity.Conclusion Orientation and spatial(localization) of the lesion should be achieved preoperatively by means of imaging methods.Although orbital tumor is a pathological entity(situated) at the confluence of different specialties,the neurosurgical approach should be considered as the most(appropriate) one without major risk of visual loss.Modern techniques with microscope have greatly(improved) these results.