Ciliary body schwannoma.

PURPOSE: Intraocular schwannomas are very rare, benign, peripheral nerve neoplasms. The authors report a case of ciliary body schwannoma.

METHOD: A 39-year-old Korean woman presented with slowly decreasing visual acuity and proptosis of the right eye for 4 years. At the time of her visit, the eyeball protruded and deviated laterally. She could not sense light with her right eye. We enucleated the eyeball. The enucleated eyeball with tumor was examined histopathologically, immunohistochemically, and under electron microscope.

RESULTS

Microscopic examination revealed spindle cells and characteristic Antoni type A and B areas with Verocay bodies. Immunohistochemical study showed tumor cell expressions of S-100 and vimentin, but other immunohistochemical studies were negative. Electron microscopic examination demonstrated Luse body.

CONCLUSIONS

We diagnosed the tumor as a schwannoma arising from the ciliary body on the basis of the above mentioned results. Schwannomas are very rare intraocular neoplasms, but they are benign so we should differentiate from other intraocular neoplasms.