Conservative Management of Childhood Orbital Lymphangioma

Orbital lymphangioma: Considerable Shrinkage without Biopsy and Surgery

“…Management of patients with orbital lymphangioma has been controversial [1]. Multiple subtotal excisions, removing as much of the lymphangioma as possible, has long been recommended [1].…”

“…Multiple subtotal excisions, removing as much of the lymphangioma as possible, has long been recommended [1]. Complete excision is usually not possible because of the diffuse, noncapsulated growth pattern that allows these tumors to interdigitate with normal orbital structures [1]. Lately, conservative management has become an alternative choice for management of orbital lymphangioma [1,3,4].…”

“…Orbital lymphangiomas are diffusely infiltrating, benign vascular tumors that appear most commonly in the first 2 decades of life [1]. Acute hemorrhagic proptosis is one of the most frequent presentations, which is caused by either spontaneous or traumatic hemorrhage into the tumor spaces [2].…”

“…Although multiple subtotal excisions have long been recommended for management of lymphangioma [1], conservative management, including simple observation [1,3] and/or systemic corticosteroid therapy [4], has recently become popular with satisfactory outcomes. However, as almost all the conservative therapies are performed after biopsy, it is possible that tumor size is reduced by stimulation from the biopsy.…”

“…Three cases of orbital lymphangiomas have been previously reported showing considerable spontaneous tumor shrinkage without biopsy and surgery. However, a detailed clinical course of orbital lymphangioma has not been reported yet [1,5].…”