The Globe and Orbit in Laron Syndrome

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Patients with LS have an inborn growth hormone resistance, resulting in failure to generate IGF-1. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the size of the eye and orbit in LS.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the MR imaging of the brain in 9 patients with LS for the following parameters: axial diameter of the globe, interzygomatic distance, perpendicular distance from the interzygomatic line to margins of the globe, medial-to-lateral diameter of the orbit at the anterior orbital rim, distance from the anterior orbital rim to the anterior globe, maximal distance between the medial walls of the orbits, lateral orbital wall angle, lateral orbital wall length, and mediolateral thickness of the intraorbital fat in the most cranial image of the orbit. All measurements were made bilaterally. Twenty patients referred for MR imaging for unrelated reasons served as control subjects.

RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the patients with LS had a significantly smaller maximal globe diameter and shallower but wider orbits due to a shorter lateral wall, a smaller medial distance between the orbits, and a larger angle of the orbit. The ratio between the most anterior orbital diameter and the globe was greater than that in controls. The position of the globe was more anterior in relation to the interzygomatic line.

CONCLUSIONS: Shallow and wide orbits and small globes relative to orbital size are seen in LS and may be secondary to IGF-1 deficiency.