Transorbital and endonasal resection of a rare orbital ectopic atypical meningioma.

A female patient in her early 20s presented with increasing proptosis of her left eye over 2 months. She had no other signs of diplopia, pain or visual loss on initial presentation. Subsequent imaging of her orbits revealed a medial rectus tumour. A transorbital open biopsy of this tumour was non-diagnostic/inconclusive, hence a combined transorbital and endonasal resection of this tumour was performed. Histopathology of the resected tumour revealed an unusual inflammatory-rich spindle cell neoplasm, which was determined to be a primary orbital ectopic atypical meningioma. These tumours are exceedingly rare, with only case reports/series reported in the literature. Complete surgical resection with margins is the proposed treatment. The role of radiotherapy is still controversial. More studies are required to improve our knowledge of this condition.

Rare case of p16-positive oropharyngeal cancer metastasis to the orbit.

We describe a case of a man in his 70s who was diagnosed with a p16-positive base of tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and presented with deteriorating vision and exophthalmos. Imaging revealed medial rectus hypertrophy, and surgery confirmed metastatic p16-positive SCC. Literature reveals that orbital metastasis from any malignancy is a rare occurrence, and even that of p16-positive oropharyngeal SCC has only been reported once in English literature previously. The case highlights the importance of maintaining a wide differential and not being narrowed into a diagnosis or treatment, and given the increasing incidence of human papillomavirus-related cancers, it is important to preserve a high index of suspicion.

Investigating Patient and Physician Delays in the Diagnosis of Head and Neck Cancers: a Canadian Perspective.

Diagnostic delays for head and neck cancer (HNC) patients are common. Patients often disregard symptoms for long periods before seeking help, and some family physicians may not be alert to the warning symptoms and signs of HNCs. This study evaluated the factors associated with length of delays in the diagnosis of HNCs in a Canadian population. This was a mixed-method study consisting of patient interviews and surveys in an academic health center. A questionnaire requesting demographic and disease information was completed by HNC patients followed by a 30 min semi-structured interview in a private setting. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, anonymized, and descriptively coded for emergent themes. Twenty-eight head and neck cancer patients participated in the study. More patients experienced physician delay (71 %) than patient delay (36 %). The median physician delay and patient delay were 108 and 31 days, respectively. Two main themes regarding these delays were (1) physician lack of knowledge and (2) lack of patient awareness. Results indicate that physician delay needs to be focused on compared to patient delay, as it is more common and has longer delays. More comprehensive training in head and neck clinical examination skills during undergraduate and residency training is recommended to reduce physician delay. Patient delay could be targeted by public education programs via both physicians and dentists.