Conjunctival leiomyosarcoma: A fairly common tumour in an uncommon site.

BACKGROUND

Leiomyosarcomas of soft tissue are malignant tumours that are not infrequently encountered in clinical medicine and histopathology. Such sarcomas of the eye are, however, a rare occurrence.

PURPOSE: Herein, the histopathological features of a case of conjunctival leiomyosarcoma are described. A 38-year-old HIV-positive male, who was otherwise fit and healthy, presented with redness of his right eye and a mass of the conjunctiva. Clinically, he did not have any soft-tissue masses elsewhere in the body.

METHOD: He underwent monoblock excision of the conjunctival mass which was confirmed histologically to be a leiomyosarcoma. Unfortunately, the patient had not returned for follow-up examination.

CONCLUSION

The differential diagnosis of a conjunctival spindle cell neoplasm is broad. While a spindle cell carcinoma is the most likely tumour, other tumours must be borne in mind so as not to misdiagnose primary sarcomas in this unusual location.