Spontaneous subperiosteal orbital hematoma as initial presentation of metastatic lung adenocarcinoma to the skull: case report.

INTRODUCTION

Subperiosteal orbital hematoma is a rare occurrence, typically developing as a result of orbital trauma. The spontaneous formation of a subperiosteal orbital hematoma (sSOH) may also occur but is less frequent. To date there has been no documented cases of sSOH as the initial presentation of an unknown metastatic neoplasm to the skull. We provide a case of a woman with unknown lung adenocarcinoma that metastasized to the skull which caused the formation of a sSOH resulting in orbital compression syndrome.

CASE REPORT

A 57-year-old female presented with double vision, retro-orbital right eye pain, and vision loss in the right eye. A magnetic resonance imaging revealed a right orbital compressive lesion with an adjacent supraorbital skull lesion and separate left frontal skull lesion. Intra-operative findings along with post-operative immunohistochemistry staining revealed sSOH resulting from a metastatic lung adenocarcinoma to the skull. Further metastatic work up also revealed an occult lung mass and multiple spinal lesions.

CONCLUSION

Differential diagnosis of etiologies causing the formation of sSOH in an adult without history of trauma should include metastatic neoplasm to the skull and warrants metastatic workup. Treatment options of sSOH have included observation with spontaneous resolution; however, we opted for surgical decompression of the eye and biopsy of the skull mass.