Radiotherapy for orbital lymphoma

Lymphoma of the orbit is a rare presentation of nonHodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). According to the data from the literature, orbital lymphoma represents 8% of all extranodal NHL and about 1% of all NHL [1-3]. Symptoms which are usually caused by orbital lymphoma are proptosis, periorbital swelling, conjunctival (salmonpink) swelling, diplopia, and conjunctival redness and irritation [4]. Radiotherapy is widely used as the primary treatment for orbital lymphoma. Radiation in those cases is often technically challenging, because special effort is made to preserve the integrity of the orbit without compromising local control [1]. The studies have shown that a local control rate is 95-98% for low grade orbital lymphomas [1,5]. The localized primary orbital lymphomas respond well to radiotherapy. The advantages of the radiotherapy treatment are a high-local control rate and durable disease-free status. Carefully planned orbital radiotherapy is well tolerated by patients and obligatory use of a lens shield contributes to greatly reducing the incidence of complications.