Solitary fibrous tumour of the orbit

Our plain-English summary of Solitary fibrous tumour of the orbit, by R. Sciot, J. Goffin, E. Fossion, et al (Histopathology, 1996).

The study

• Authors: R. Sciot, J. Goffin, E. Fossion, G. Wilms, R. Dom
• Journal: Histopathology
• Published: 1996;28(2):188-91
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 34 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This case report, by authors at University Hospital Gasthuisberg in Leuven, Belgium, described one patient with a solitary fibrous tumour of the orbit (the eye socket). The authors noted that this tumour was originally called localized fibrous mesothelioma, but that evidence for a mesothelial origin is lacking. The article did not discuss asbestos or any other exposure. The patient was a 23-year-old man with a two-year history of his right eye gradually bulging forward. Scans showed a mass in the right orbit with a rich blood supply, and the angiogram strongly suggested an angioma. The tumour, 2.5 cm across, was removed in one piece. After 9 months the patient was free of disease. Its spindle-shaped cells stained for CD34 and vimentin, but not for cytokeratin, EMA, S-100 protein, GFAP or desmin. The authors concluded that this tumour should be considered whenever a hypervascular spindle cell tumour is found in the orbit. They added that whether it can behave malignantly is not yet clear.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: case report (single patient)
• Who was studied: One 23-year-old man with progressive bulging of the right eye. The authors were at University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. No dates of treatment were given.
• Main results:
  • The patient had an 8 mm exophthalmos (forward bulging of the eye), and his visual acuity was normal.
  • Imaging showed a hypervascular mass in the upper inner right orbit. The angiogram strongly suggested an angioma.
  • The tumour, 2.5 cm in diameter, was removed en bloc. The patient was free of disease 9 months later.
  • CD34 stained the tumour's spindle cells, and vimentin stained almost all of them.
  • Stains for cytokeratin, EMA, S-100 protein, GFAP and desmin were negative in the tumour cells.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that solitary fibrous tumour should be considered when a hypervascular spindle cell tumour is found in the orbit. They stated that it can be diagnosed from its histological features and CD34 positivity.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors stated that whether orbital solitary fibrous tumour can be malignant is unclear. They said firm conclusions need more cases with long follow-up.

Related studies

• Solitary fibrous tumor of the nasal cavity and orbit — M. Fukunaga, S. Ushigome, et al. (1995)
• Solitary fibrous tumor of the orbit: CT and pathologic correlation — S. Festa, H.J. Lee, et al. (1999)
• Solitary fibrous tumors of the pleura: clinical characteristics, surgical treatment and outcome — P. Magdeleinat, M. Alifano, et al. (2002)
• A case of malignant pleural mesothelioma with metastasis to the orbit — K. Kubota, K. Furuse, et al. (1996)
• Solitary fibrous tumour of the tongue: a case report with immunohistochemical studies — Y. Yamashita, T. Satoh, et al. (2002)
• Solitary fibrous tumour of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses — I. Alobid, L. Alós, et al. (2003)

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