[Pseudotumor orbitae--a chameleon in diagnosis and therapy?]

Between 1972 and 1988, 25 patients were diagnosed and treated for "pseudotumor orbitae" in the Departments of Radiotherapy and Ophthalmology of Münster University Clinics. All cases had been initially confirmed by histology. Later in seven cases (28%) the histology showed a definitive alteration, and eventually turned to malignancy in five patients. Criteria indicating such a shift are seen in higher age, subacute onset of the disease, low pain, minor signs of inflammation, low echoes in ultrasound diagnostics, and the absence of "Dutcher bodies" in histiocytes, if these are evident in histology. These patients at increased risk of malignant transformation should be considered for radiotherapy at an earlier stage than prescribed by the current routine.