Orbital Tumours in Northern Malaysia: A Five-Year Review

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted with the objective to examine demographic statistics and histopathological diagnoses of orbital biopsies from cases referred to the Oculoplastic subspecialty of the Ophthalmology department in Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Kedah, from 2016 to 2020.

METHOD: This study is a case series of 28 patients who underwent orbital biopsy.

RESULT: A total of 34 orbital biopsies from 28 patients were recorded. The mean age was 48.3 ± 19.1 years old. 22 (78.4%) cases manifested unilaterally and six (21.4%) manifested bilaterally. The commonest presentations were orbital mass (36.6%) and proptosis (24.4%). The mean duration of the presentation was 16.2 ± 19.5 months. Fourteen (50.0%) patients underwent orbital biopsy within six months of symptoms. 52.8% of the tumours are situated at supero-temporal region of the orbit. 53.0% (18) situated in extraconal space of orbit. Out of all, 23 (67.6%) cases were benign and 11 (32.4%) cases were malignant. All were primary in origin (100%). The commonest orbital tumours reported were malignant lymphoma (29.4%), reactive lymphoid hyperplasia (14.7%), non-caseating granulomatous inflammation (11.8%), non-granulomatous inflammation (5.9%) and cavernous haemangioma (5.9%). Of all 10 malignant lymphomas from eight patients (two were bilateral eyes) were all mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) of primary non-Hodgkin lymphomas. None of the cases were reported to be metastasis from the systemic spread. The majority of patients' eyes (20, 58.8%) remained the same visual acuity post-biopsy while six (17.6%) eyes had improvement in visual acuity and eight (23.5%) eyes had reduced postoperative visual acuity.

CONCLUSION: Malignant tumours are more common in the elder age group especially malignant lymphoma which is in contrast to Caucasian populations. Understanding the relative incidence of these various orbital tumours is essential to patient evaluation and management.