Diagnosis and Management of Benign Orbital Tumors

A majority of orbital lesions are benign.1 The orbit is, a bony structure with one major anterior opening and, several more posteriorly located fissures through which, important nerves and blood vessels travel into and out, of the orbit (see Chapter 2). Therefore, various space-occupying, lesions tend to present with a varying mixture, of similar signs and symptoms of globe displacement,, eyelid swelling, blepharoptosis, limitation in eye movement,, conjunctival chemosis and hyperemia, elevated, intraocular pressure, chorioretinal folds, and optic, nerve compression as well as other cranial neuropathies., 1 Generally, benign orbital lesions tend to be more, slow-growing and, therefore, present with a more gradual, onset or may sometimes even be asymptomatic., Compared with malignant lesions, on imaging, benign, lesions tend to be more well circumscribed, causing bone, remodeling rather than erosion. However, these general, rules have exceptions, and not all lesions can be classified, into benign or malignant based on clinical presentation, and imaging findings. The topics of orbital tumor classification, and differential diagnosis are covered elsewhere, in this book (see Chapter 42). This chapter focuses on the, diagnosis and specific management of common benign, orbital lesions.