Orbital neurilemmoma: report of seven cases

Neurilemmoma (schwannoma) has a predilection for the head and neck, especially the eighth cranial nerve in the cerebellopontine angle. It rarely occurs in the orbit, representing only 1% of orbital tumours. We report seven cases. The nerve of origin was identifiable in four cases. Two occurred within the inferior oblique muscle. Five were treated successfully by anterior or lateral orbitotomy without craniotomy and two required a combined cranio-orbitotomy. The majority of orbital neurilemmomas occur as discrete intraorbital lesions without intracranial extension and can be safely removed via orbitotomy alone.