Letter

Primary Atypical Lipomatous Tumor of the Orbit

Mahmood Dhahir Al-Mendalawi, MB, CH.B, DCH, FICMS

Department of Paediatrics, Al-Kindy College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq

ORCID:
Mahmood Dhahir Al-Mendalawi: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2872-453X

J Ophthalmic Vis Res 2019; 14 (4): 536–536

Sir,

I read with interest the case report by Dworak et al
on orbital atypical lipomatous tumor (ALT), a rare
variety of liposarcoma, in an American patient.[1]
It is obvious that in addition to opportunistic
infections, patients infected with human immun-
odeficiency virus (HIV) are also more susceptible
to various types of tumors. The origin of these
tumors is thought to be multifactorial, including
immunosuppression, co-infection with oncogenic
viruses, and life prolongation secondary to the use
of antiretroviral therapy.[2] Among these tumors,
liposarcomas have been reported in HIV-positive
patients.[3, 4] To my knowledge, HIV infection is a
distressing health threat in the United States of
America (USA). According to the available data,
an estimated 1.1 million people aged ≥ 13 years
were living with HIV infection in the USA at the
end of 2015, including an estimated 162,500 (15%)
persons with undiagnosed infections.[5] I presume
that HIV infection ought to be considered in the
patient studied in the aforementioned case. Hence,
testing of HIV status using the diagnostic panel of
CD4 count and viral overload measurements was
solicited in the studied patient. If that diagnostic
panel was conducted and disclosed HIV infection,
the case in question could surely be considered

novel as HIV-associated orbital ALT has never been
reported in the literature so far.

Financial Support and Sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of Interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

REFERENCES

1. Dworak DP, Patel SA, Chennuri R, Falco D. Primary atypical
lipomatous tumor of the orbit: A case report. J Ophthalmic
Vis Res 2018;13:78–80.

2. Valencia Ortega ME. Malignancies and infection due to
the human immunodeficiency virus. Are these emerging
diseases? Rev Clin Esp 2018; 218:149–155.

3. Grieger TA, Carl M, Liebert HP, Cotelingam JD, Wagner
KF. Mediastinal liposarcoma in a patient infected with the
human immunodeficiency virus. Am J Med 1988;84:366.

4. Leonetti G, Forte A, Covotta A, Manfredelli S, Campo S,
Bezzi M, et al. Cervico-thoracic liposarcoma in an HIV
patient. G Chir 2008;29:427–428.

5. Dailey AF, Hoots BE, Hall HI, Song R, Hayes D, Fulton P, et
al. Vital signs: Human Immunodeficiency Virus testing and
diagnosis delays - United States. MMWR 2017;66:1300–
1306.

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Correspondence to:

Mahmood Dhahir Al-Mendalawi, MB, CH.B, DCH, FICMS. Baghdad
Post Office, Baghdad 55302, Iraq.
Email: mdalmendalawi@yahoo.com

Received: 01-12-2018 Accepted: 10-02-2019

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DOI: 10.18502/jovr.v14i4.5479

How to cite this article: Al-Mendalawi MD. Atypical Lipomatous Tumor of
the Orbit. J Ophthalmic Vis Res 2019;14:536–536.

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