[Orbital tumors in children. Transcranial surgical approach]

From March 1980 to December 1995, at the Department of Neurosurgery of the Instituto Nacional de Pediatría (INP), 23 patients were treated for orbital tumors. In this communication, the authors report on the clinical presentation, age, radiological findings, visual-evoked potentials, type of surgery, histological diagnosis, and results. Two kinds of surgical techniques were employed: craniotomy with orbital roof removal (NAFZIGER) and fronto-orbitotomy. Eleven patients had optic nerve gliomas, 3 had fibrous osseous dysplasia, 2 meningiomas, neurofibromas, Langerhans cells histiocytosis, and 1 case of Anaplastic astrocytoma, Teratoma, primitive Neuroectodermal tumor, germinoma with areas of choriocarcinoma. The results were evaluated for the quality of life in regard to the Karnofsky scale, tumor recurrence and postoperative visual-evoked potentials. It is important to note the very variable histological kinds of lesions found in this series that can be approached surgically with cranio orbitotomy with good results.