Explaining the most common questions about orbital tumors

Orbital cavernous hemangioma is a common intraorbital benign tumor, which accounts for 18.1%~21.3% of orbital tumors in domestic literature. The most common site of onset is within the orbital muscle cone, followed by extra-muscular cone and other locations, but it can also appear in other locations of the eye, and the clinical manifestations of tumors in different parts of the eye are also different. Most of the tumors have insidious onset and are chronic in nature, with a course of years or even decades. The main symptoms include progressive ocular protrusion, decreased visual acuity, altered visual field, diplopia and limited eye movement. Advances in imaging technology have allowed for accurate localization and qualitative diagnosis of intraorbital cavernous hemangiomas preoperatively. CT and MRI are the most useful localization methods for the diagnosis of intraorbital cavernous hemangioma. CT shows a round or round-like lesion located in the muscle cone, and the orbital apical part retains a triangular transparent area; MRI shows the following signs: T1WI and extraocular muscle are equal signals or slightly low signals, T2WI and extraocular muscle are high signals, and the vitreous body is equal to the signal with a homogeneous signal, and the diagnostic accuracy of the MRI localization is precise, and it can clearly distinguish the optic nerve, orbital nerve, orbital nerve, and the orbital nerve, and the orbital nerve. MRI is accurate in localization and diagnosis, and can clearly distinguish the relationship between the optic nerve, orbital fat and tumor, which is better than CT and ultrasound, especially in clarifying the relationship between the tumor and the optic nerve. However, the characteristic of ultrasound that can show the echo inside the tumor has qualitative diagnostic significance for cavernous hemangioma. Since most of the masses are located in the posterior bulbar muscle cones, and the compression of the tumor on the optic nerve and the eyeball can impair visual function, early treatment is desirable to protect vision. The traditional treatment is open orbital surgery to remove the tumor completely, and the accesses are anterior open orbital, lateral open orbital, and medial open orbital. Possible complications of surgery include decreased or loss of vision, ocular motility disorders and ptosis, etc. Wu et al. concluded that 209 cases of intraorbital cavernous hemangiomas were treated with 17% of vision loss and 4.2% of permanent vision loss after surgery, and Scheuerle et al. showed that a group of larger intraorbital cavernous hemangiomas that were operated on transcranially had impaired vision in 14% of the cases. When the tumor is located at the orbital apex or when the tumor is large, total excision of the tumor may impair vision by directly damaging or pulling on the optic nerve or by disrupting its feeder artery (central retinal or ophthalmic artery). Gamma Knife radiosurgery is widely used to treat intracranial cavernous hemangiomas, and treatment of cavernous hemangiomas of the cavernous sinus has also been reported. Experience with gamma knife treatment of orbital tumors has shown that this method is effective in controlling tumor growth while avoiding the direct damage of surgery, providing a new treatment option for this type of disease.