[Amaurosis fugax as the early manifestation of orbital schwannoma]

We report a case of a 51-year-old woman who clinically presented amaurosis fugax in her left eye of four months' duration.Computed tomography showed a well defined intraconal mass suggestive of cavernous hemangioma. A left lateral orbitotomy was performed. A red and encapsulated mass was removed in its entirety without violation of its capsule. Microscopically, it was composed of areas of spindle-shaped cells disposed in form of palisade (Antoni type A) mixed with cystic areas where the cells were scattered in a loose myxoid matrix (Antoni type B). Some nuclei were large, hyperchromatic, pleomorphic and multilobulated. The diagnosis was made on the basis of the histopathologic findings.