Significance of post-traumatic maxillary sinus fluid, or lack of fluid, in a level II trauma population

The Adelaide Facial Bone Rule: A simple prediction model and clinical guideline for the presence of facial fractures using CT brain scans in victims of minor trauma

BACKGROUND

Facial fractures bleed, resulting in high-density fluid in the sinuses (haemosinus) on computed tomography (CT) scans. A CT brain scan includes most maxillary sinuses in the scan field, which should allow detection of haemosinus as an indirect indicator of a facial fracture without the need for an additional CT facial bone scan, yet no robust evidence for this exists in the literature. The aim of this study was to determine whether the presence of haemosinus on a CT brain scan, alone or in combination with other clinical information, can predict the presence of facial fractures.

METHODS

1231 adult patients, who had both brain and facial CT scans performed on the same day, were selected from a seven year period. Patients were eligible if scans were requested for trauma. Brain and facial scans were reviewed separately for the presence of facial fractures, haemosinus, emphysema and intra-cranial haemorrhage. Prediction modelling was used to assess whether findings from brain scans could be used to identify patients requiring further CT scanning.

FINDINGS

The full prediction model included four predictors and showed excellent discrimination (AUROC 0.982; 95 % CI 0.971 - 0.993). A simplified model, more suitable for clinical implementation, used only facial fractures and haemosinus as predictors. This model showed only marginally poorer discrimination (AUROC 0.964; 95 % CI 0.945 - 0.983) and excellent performance on other measures.

CONCLUSION

Based on the excellent performance of the simplified prediction model, we present the Adelaide Facial Bone Rule: The absence of blood in the sinuses or facial fractures on a CT brain scan means a CT facial bone scan does not need to be routinely performed in the setting of clinically-determined minor trauma.

Evaluation of Concomitant Orbital Floor Fractures in Patients with Head Trauma Using Conventional Head CT Scan: A Retrospective Study at a Level II Trauma Center

BACKGROUND

Patients with head trauma may have concomitant orbital floor fractures (OFFs). The objective of our study was to determine the specific CT findings and investigate the diagnostic performance of head CT in detecting OFFs.

METHODS

We analyzed 3534 head trauma patients undergoing simultaneous head and facial CT over a 3-year period. The clinical data and specific head CT findings between patients with and without OFFs were compared.

RESULTS

In our cohort, 198 patients (5.6%) had OFFs visible on CT. On head CT, orbital floor discontinuity, gas bubbles entrapped between floor fragments, inferior extraconal emphysema, and maxillary hemosinus (MHS) were more commonly observed among patients with OFFs (p < 0.001). The absence of MHS had a high negative predictive value (99.7%) for excluding OFFs. Among the different types of MHS, the pattern showing high-attenuation opacity mixed with mottled gas had the highest positive predictive value (69.5%) for OFFs and was the only independent predictor of OFFs after adjusting for the other CT variables in all patients with MHS.

CONCLUSION

Head CT may serve as a first-line screening tool to detect OFFs in head trauma patients. Hence, unnecessary facial CT and additional radiation exposure may be reduced.

Functional Endoscopic Surgery After Facial Trauma

The present study describes 3 patients of previous facial trauma who have subsequently been treated with functional endoscopic sinus surgery. The authors want pay attention on the possible correlation between facial trauma and sinusitis. Such fractures can be the cause of onset of paranasal sinusitis or of worsening of a previous sinusitis. The correlation between these 2 pathologies could be due to the fact that facial fractures concern the anatomic structures of paranasal sinuses. The damage to these structures during the facial trauma and tissue regeneration after injury or surgical treatment subverts the anatomy and function of the sinuses in a basically compromised situation.