Hind Alkatan
King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
Title: Demographics of pediatric orbital lesions: A tertiary eye center experience in Saudi Arabia
Biography
Biography: Hind Alkatan
Abstract
Orbital lesions vary in their classification, incidence and presentation depending on the age and the geographic distribution. Such lesions in the pediatric age group has been extensively studied because of the possibility of faster progression of orbital involvement and the higher risk of morbidity in this age group of patients where vision is still developing. In Saudi Arabia, this has been studied over a six-year period in the late 80’s when retinoblastoma cases used to present late with orbital involvement. In this current study, we revisited the same topic 20 years later aiming at finding out the most recent prevalence of orbital lesions in a similar population of patients over a longer period (14 years) in the same eye center and at comparing the current results to other reports worldwide. A total of 107 lesions from 106 patients were identified by tissue diagnosis, out of which more than half of the lesions were benign cystic (being the commonest), vasculogenic and inflammatory in 63% [95% CI (53.3-72.0)] of all biopsied lesions. Neoplasms accounted for 37% [95% CI (28.0 – 45.8)] with rhabdomyosarcoma being the commonest accounting for about one third of neoplasms and no orbital cases of retinoblastoma were found. Our results demonstrated different distribution of orbital lesions in recent years reflecting the indirect effect of the improved health awareness and medical care in Saudi Arabia. This base-line demographic study is expected to be helpful for further clinical and prognostic studies with emphasis on pediatric orbital malignant lesions, their clinical presentation, management and prognosis.