a survey on orbital space-occupying lesions during a twelve-year period from a referral center in iran

Purpose: in this study, we describe different orbital space-occupying lesions (sols) from a referral center in iran. methods: in this retrospective case series, all records of “orbital tumors” with a definite histopathologic diagnosis at a referral center in iran were reviewed from april 2008 to may 2020. results: a total of 375 orbital sols were included. the study population consisted of 212 (56.5%) female and 163 (43.5%) male subjects with overall mean age of 31.09 ± 21.80 years. the most common clinical presentation was proptosis and the superotemporal quadrant was the most frequent site of involvement. extraconal lesions (276 cases, 73.6%) outnumbered intraconal lesions (99 cases 26.4%). the great majority of sols (344, 91.7%) were primary, while 24 (6.4%) were secondary and 7 (1.9%) were metastatic. benign lesions (309, 82.4%) were much more common than malignant sols (66, 17.6%). overall, dermoid cysts and malignant lymphoma were the most prevalent benign and malignant orbital sols, respectively. the malignant to benign lesion ratio was 0.46 in children (≤18 years), 0.81 in middle-aged subjects (19–59 years), and 5.9 in older (≥60 years) cases. the most common type of malignancy was rhabdomyosarcoma in children, lymphoma in middle-aged subjects, and invasive basal cell carcinoma in older age group. conclusion: over the 12-year study period, benign, primary, extraconal orbital sols were more frequent than malignant, secondary, and intraconal lesions. the ratio of malignant lesions increased with age in this cohort of patients.