Weiss A H, Greenwald M J, Margo C E, Myers W
Department of Ophthalmology, University of South Florida Medical Center, College of Medicine, Tampa 33612.
J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 1989 Jan-Feb;26(1):44-9. doi: 10.3928/0191-3913-19890101-11.
Two patients with primary teratomas of the orbit and a third patient with a teratoma invading the orbit from the maxillary sinus are presented. The clinical presentation of each patient was spectacular. In the primary teratomas, the globe was displaced out of the orbit by the attached tumor, causing extreme proptosis. Computed tomography was virtually diagnostic, showing a variegated orbital mass with solid and cystic components. Histologic examination showed multiple tissues derived from two or three germinal layers. The surgical removal of the tumors and reasons for the poor visual outcome are discussed. The appearance of teratomas in the orbit and other cephalic structures appears to arise from the survival and proliferation of germ cells deposited there during embryogenesis.
