[Leiomyoma of the ciliary body - misdiagnosis leading to an unconventional but successful surgical approach].

Report on a leiomyoma of the ciliary body in a 12-year-old girl. The clinical findings were misinterpreted as a traumatic ciliary body cyst because of the associated iridodialysis, the fact that the tumor could be transilluminated, because it appeared cystic on ultrasonography, and because there was a history of severe cranial trauma. In the course of an attempt to puncture the presumed cyst a cherry-sized ciliary body tumor was revealed. It proved possible to shell this out without performing an iridocyclectomy. An elective enucleation would have been performed had the true diagnosis been known preoperatively. Due to the misdiagnosis and the resulting unconventional approach the eye was preserved with some residual functions. the histological picture was that of a leiomyoma, a tumor rarely found in the ciliary body. The histological and electronmicroscopic appearance are described and compared with the few cases previously reported.