Abstract

A total of 132 enucleated eyeballs is critically reviewed and analyzed histopathologically. These eyeballs were selected among the enucleated specimens that had been removed at the Seoul National University Hospital during a period of 21 years beginning from 1963 to 1983. Following results were obtained. 1) When the eyebalss were classified according to the direct cause of removal the tumor was the most common single cause accounting for 74(56.1%) out of 132 cases, followd by inflammation (22.0%), trauma (3.8%), glaucoma(7.6%), phthisis bulbi (2.3%), Coat's disease (3.8%), persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous (2.3%), retrolental fibroplasia (1.5%) and cataract (10.8%). 2) The noeplastic lesion could again be divided into 66 intraocular and 8 extraocular tumors. Ret inoblastoma was the commonst intraocular tumor accounting for 57 out of 74 cases. 3) About 50% of the retinoblastoma were senn under two years, but t재 cases are found in the men of 52 years old. Only 1.8% of the cases were bilateral. In growth pattern, 89.4% of the tumor grew endophytically. Rosetts were senn only 33.3% of the retinoblastoma. 4) When our series was compared to other series published in Korea, the trauma was relatively less important for the cause of enucleation. And it was also noted that the glaucoma is less significant cause of enucleation in Korea compared to that of western countries.