Karatza Ekaterini C, Shields Carol L, Shields Jerry A, Eagle Ralph C
Oncology Service, Wills Eye Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, USA.
Ophthalmic Plast Reconstr Surg. 2004 Sep;20(5):397-9. doi: 10.1097/01.iop.0000139527.83345.64.
A 56-year-old woman with left periocular pain was discovered on CT to have a partially calcified, circumscribed cystic lesion in the lacrimal gland fossa, suggestive of a malignant lacrimal gland tumor. Adjacent bone fossa formation without erosion was noted. Histopathologic examination of the excised mass disclosed a cyst with chronic granulomatous inflammation and calcification of the cyst wall. The combination of chronic pain, cystic changes, and calcification in a lacrimal gland fossa mass in an adult should suggest a malignant neoplasm, but a long-standing orbital cyst with calcification of its rim can produce the same features.