Schwannoma of the ciliar body (clinical case)

Purpose Schwannoma is a very rare benign intraocular tumor, arising from the uveal tract. Only several cases have been described so far in literature. We describe a case of ciliar body schwannoma. Methods A 13-year-old girl presented with rapid decreasing visual acuity and intraocular pressure increase for 3 months. The patient was examined with standard ophthalmological procedures. Ultrasonography with Doppler techniques and computed tomography revealed a huge tumor mass, totally filling the eye cavity. IOP was measured as 26 mmHg. The fine needle aspiration biopsy revealed no signs of tumor (retinoblastoma or uveal melanoma were expected). To prevent the tumor spread and further IOP increase, we performed the enucleation of the eyeball. Results Histologically the tumor was determined as Verocai schwannoma (cellular solid component or Antoni A type). Immunohistochemical study revealed a positive reaction for vimentin, protein S-100 and neuronspecific enolase. Conclusion Unfortunately, it is not easy to make a differential diagnosis between the nonpigmented melanoma and schwannoma without performing an enucleation in advanced cases. Nevertheless, in our case enucleation was the appropriate method to determine this rare tumor and to administer further treatment.