Clinical and pathological characteristics of orbital tumors

Objective: describe the clinico pathological characteristics of orbital tumors. Methods: a retrospective descriptive case-series study was conducted at the National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology from January 2011 to December 2017. A sample of 241 patients undergoing orbital surgery was characterized according to age, sex, origin and type of lesion, histopathological diagnosis and surgical procedures used. Results: 52.7 % of the study sample was male and 36.5 % was in the 60-79 age group. 62.7 % of the cases were malignant tumors, 51.9 % were primary orbital lesions, and 26.6 % were non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Secondary lesions originating in the eyelids represented 58.7 %, and epidermoid carcinomas 56.5 %. Eleven cases were metastases, 72.7 % were of the breast type. The anterior transpalpebral approach was used in 54.8 % of the cases. Conclusions: orbital tumors are more common as of age 40 with a predominance of the male sex. Malignant lesions are more frequent, as well as primary orbital lesions, of which the largest number of cases are non-Hodgkin lymphomas. The eyelids are the main structure of origin of secondary lesions, and epidermoid carcinoma is the prevailing histopathological variety. Breast metastases are the type most commonly affecting the orbital area. The main approach is anterior transpalpebral (transeptal), followed by orbital exenteration.