RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF 93 CASES OF ORBITA L AND OCULAR TUMORS USING COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY

The purpose of this study was to review certain computed tomography (C T) criteria in relation to the histopathologic diagnosis of orbital tu mours. One hundred and forty cases of orbital tumour were evaluated by CT between 1979 and 1992 at two tertiary-care hospitals. The radiolog ic material was available and the histopathologic diagnosis had been c learly established for only 93 of these; these cases were reviewed in detail for the study. The radiologic semiology of the cases was compar ed with the pathological diagnosis. The characteristics evaluated were tumour localization, attenuation, contrast enhancement, the presence of calcifications, the morphologic features and changes in the neighbo uring bony structures. The authors present here the findings for the m ost commonly encountered tumours: uveal melanoma (observed in 50 cases ), lymphoma (in 8), optic glioma (in 6), meningioma (in 6), dermoid cy st (in 5) and metastasis (in 5). Using the current literature for corr oboration, the authors suggest an approach to diagnosis on the basis o f the CT criteria discussed.