Preoperative transarterial embolization of a recurrent orbital solitary fibrous tumor with significant hypervascularity: a case report

Background Orbital solitary fibrous tumors (SFTs) are rare neoplasms. Recurrent, hypervascular, malignant variations of orbital SFTs have recently been noted and can present a surgical challenge. Case presentation We describe a case of a 53-year-old Chinese woman with a history of a resected orbital SFT. She presented with proptosis, limited eyeball movement, and visual loss in the right eye, suggestive of a recurrent SFT. Ocular examination with multimodal imaging revealed a large, nonpulsatile, noncompressible, hypervascular mass behind the eyeball. The patient underwent preoperative transarterial embolization of the main blood supply to the tumor in order to control intraoperative blood loss, followed by ocular enucleation to optimize exposure and enable complete resection of the tumor. Embolization of the right ophthalmic artery and the distal branch of the right internal maxillary artery caused an immediate, substantial reduction of vascular flow, which allowed us to enucleate the eyeball and resect the tumor with minimal blood loss and no complications. Conclusions Our case is so far the first Chinese case of successful preoperative embolization of the main blood supply to a large, recurrent, hypervascular orbital SFT. This case also described a different surgical approach to achieve total removal of an orbital SFT without osteotomy.