Central skull base lesions presenting as unilateral proptosis

ABSTRACT

Twenty-one patients presented with unilateral proptosis were studied. Computed tomography and sinoscopy were done to all patients. These patients were distributed as followed; four patients with central cranial base lesions, one was nasopharyngeal carcinoma with intracranial extension, one nasopharyngeal fibroma, two osteomas, two recurrent nasal polyposis, four mucoceles, six nasal ethmoidal cancer and one chronic ethmoiditis. The importance of CT and sinoscopy in diagnosis of central base lesions was demonstrated. Central cranial skull base lesions should be considered in cases of unilateral proptosis especially if the lesion is not clinically evident. CT and sinoscopy are indispensable tools in diagnosis and management of patients presented with unilateral proptosis especially those without evident local lesions