Optic Nerve Tumor

[hockeymomof3]

I recently had a biopsy done on a tumor that is wrapped around my optic nerve. Two different path reports were done and both came back as a hamartoma. Now I was told that this is a very rare tumor but even more rare to get in the eye. Why can I find nothing on the web about a optic hamartoma? I find info about this tumor in the lungs, cowden syndrom (syndrome), etc. but nothing in the eye. Surely I can't be the only person in the world with this type of tumor in the eye. I understand it is rare but you must have come across this tumor in your carreer before. What are the characteristics of this tumor is it slow growing or aggressive?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS]

This is a place to start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamartoma

Many eye and optic nerve harmartomas are due to a group of diseases called phacomatoses

http://www.bionity.com/lexikon/e/Neurofibromatosis_type_I

The worlds experts on optic nerve harmartomas is the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

http://www.afip.org/

I have had patients with eye harmatomas but none on the optic nerve.

You should contact the AFIP and see if they will do a literature search for you.

JCH III MD