Orbital Cellulitis in a Patient With Sphenoid Wing Meningioma

Abstract

We report a case of a 43-year-old woman with an underlying right sphenoid wing meningioma (SWM) who complained of increased right eye swelling, proptosis, redness and severe pain for two weeks. Her symptoms started one week after completing radiotherapy. She seeked treatment after a worsening of symptoms. An urgent computed tomography (CT) scan of the brain was done and showed increasing extension of tumour and hypodense areas within intraorbital region of the tumour with intraorbital fat stranding. She was treated as right eye orbital cellulitis with a differential diagnosis of tumour lysis syndrome. She was started on a combination of intravenous antibiotics and improvements were noticed after two days of treatment. This report presents the diagnostic challenge in managing orbital swelling in a patient with sphenoid wing meningioma with inconclusive radiological findings. Orbital cellulitis is an ocular emergency that requires prompt treatment and can potentially be vision and life-threatening, if not addressed early. In such cases with diagnostic dilemma, the decision to treat should be made as early as possible.