5-year-old girl with left upper eyelid swelling

Classification of orbitocranial wooden foreign body penetration injuries: what to do when they violate the intracranial space? A systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Orbitocranial wooden foreign body (OWF) penetrations are rare but challenging occurrences that may violate the intracranial space resulting in brain damage and hemorrhagic, as well as infectious, complications. Moreover, there is a specific subset of cases of OWF penetrations that are particularly challenging to treat. Although there are well-defined management guidelines for pure intraorbital localization, there is not yet a defined treatment protocol for foreign bodies reaching the intracranial space. However, their removal performed either directly or through craniotomy, is often easily attainable given the condition that all necessary precautions are accounted for.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

After having treated a 48-year-old man with a transorbital OWF penetration injury at our neurosurgical department, we systematically reviewed the last 15 years of literature to define and summarize the best management strategy. Multiple databases were searched for case reports and case series involving patients with intraorbital and transorbital OWF penetration injuries. For each study, we extracted data on age, sex, imaging modality, type of wood (processed vs. unprocessed), location of periorbital and intracranial entry site, treatment type ("pull and see" or "open and see"), antibiotic therapy, and complications.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

We classified transorbital OWFs into two categories: transorbital with only cavernous sinus involvement and transorbital with more extensive intracranial involvement. We described what we believed was the most appropriate management conduct in each case.

CONCLUSIONS

Grounded on our experience and on the review of the literature, we suggest, based on the anatomical localization of the OWF, a classification system for OWFs which is coupled with a tailored treatment strategy for each case. These suggestions are made to provide surgeons with direction on the correct management of such rare but challenging occurrences.

A survey of incidental ocular trauma by pencil and pen

AIM

To determine characteristic features of ocular trauma resulted from self-trauma by writing instruments among pediatric population.

METHODS

Thirty-six children who suffered from self-inflicted ocular trauma with a writing instrument were included in this prospective cross-sectional study.

RESULTS

The mean age was 5.6±2.7y with male: female ratio of 1.77. The right eye was involved two times more than the left eye. The superomedial (55.5%) and inferomedial (30.6%) quadrants were the most common sites of injury. The leading culprit was colored pencils (44.4%). During surgical exploration, no foreign body (FB) was found in 25 (69.4%) patients while an FB was found in 11 (30.5%) patients. Brain injury was present in two patients (5.6%) and only in superomedial quadrant injuries. Zone 1 was the most common site for ocular trauma associated with penetrating injury. The mean ocular trauma score (OTS) in penetrating injuries was 3.8±1.2. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.3±0.6 upon admittance and 0.08±0.21 after one year. The final BCVA was significantly correlated with the entrance site, better final BCVA was found in nasal entrance site (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

The ophthalmologists should keep a high index of suspicion to rule out penetrating eye injuries related to writing instruments in a young uncooperative child. Brain injury is a life-threatening event that should be ruled out by appropriate imaging. Medial canthal area as the most common site needs an especial attention in writing instrument injuries.