Orbital Tumors

Abstract

The nonchromaffin paraganglioma of the orbit is a relatively rare tumor, with only 17 cases reported in the world literature in the 25-year period following the publication of Fisher and Hazard (1952) (Table 17-1). The case of Thacker and Duckworth (1969) was republished by Deutsch and Duckworth (1969). The adrenal rest tumor of Hughes and Ambrose (1944) and the malignant granular cell myoblastoma of Hogan and Zimmerman (1962) may represent misdiagnosed examples of this neoplasm, but caution must be exercised because other organoid neoplasms have been described arising in the orbit. Altamirano-Dimas et al. (1966) and Abrahams et al. (1968) reported cases of alveolar soft-part sarcoma of the orbit, which resembled the nonchromaffin paraganglioma with their alveolated architecture, but gave positive reactions for muco-polysaccharides with PAS, alcian blue, and colloidal iron stains.