Clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and outcomes of orbital biopsies in a single Irish centre

To review the distribution of histopathological diagnoses and visual outcome of orbital biopsy in an Irish tertiary referral centre over a 10-year period.

This was a retrospective, clinical-histopathological case series. Clinical records of all patients who underwent orbital biopsy between January 2008 and January 2018 in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital were reviewed using data collected from theatre logbooks and hospital-based medical records.

A total of 83 orbital biopsies in 77 patients were included for analysis in this study. The mean age was 55.7 ± 18.41 years. The mean follow-up period was 1.87 ± 2.097 years. The most common presenting symptoms and signs were pain (22.3%) and proptosis (27.6%). Most lesions were located in the extraconal space (65%), with incisional biopsy (65%) being the most common technique used to gain a sample for histopathological diagnosis. Histopathology analysis of the biopsies revealed malignant tumours (27, 32.5%), benign tumours (7, 8.4%), inflammation (26, 31.3%), and other diagnoses (23, 27%). Excluding patients who underwent exenteration procedures, no study patients suffered visual loss following orbital biopsy.

Orbital biopsy serves as a safe diagnostic tool in managing orbital diseases. The breakdown of diagnosis in our patients is in line with international studies. No patients in our series suffered vision loss as a result of their orbital biopsy. This emphasises its use as a safe procedure in the diagnosis and management of patients with the orbital disease. Our data provides helpful guidance to clinicians when counselling patients for orbital biopsy.