Choice of surgical approach in orbital space occupations--an interdisciplinary problem

During the last two and a half years 60 patients with orbital space occupying neoplasms were treated surgically at the Department of Maxillo-facial Surgery of the University Clinic of Essen. With modern imaging techniques exact information on the location and extent of space occupation was available before the operation. Therefore the surgical approach could be optimized. Despite the various and sometimes inaccessible tumor locations, transcranial operation was only necessary in six patients. In the remaining 54 patients anterior orbitotomy allowed either a definitive tumor therapy or histological verification of the diagnosis.