Orbital cellulitis can derive from multiple causes such as dental abscess, trauma, closed fractures, periocular surgery, panophthalmitis. But, in the vast majority of cases arise from direct spread of sinus infection specially ethmoiditis. If there is clinical suspicion of orbital or intracranial complications, cross-sectional imaging of the orbit and brain is mandatory [1]. Orbital cellulitis may have different clinical presentations, and several schemes of classification of these types of orbital infections have been published. Orbital cellulitis is divided into two principal forms: the preseptal form...

This was a retrospective study of 30 consecutive patients with orbital cellulitis due to acute ethmoidis treated at the Rabta, ENT departement. All patients underwent a CT scan. The computed tomography were analyzed by a radiologist at Rabta Hospital , Radiologic Department. CT was performed using a 64 channel MDCT scanner (LightSpeed VCT ct99® CT , General Electric Healthcare, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA) The acquisition of an orbital CT at our institution is done with the following parameters : 0.625 mm slice thickness, 0.3mm increment, 320kV,...

The 30 patients ranged in age from 2 to 75 years. The majority of patients (56%) were under 20 years of age. There were 19 males and 11 females in the study. Three major types of CT changes were observed. The preseptal cellulitis (figure 1 ) was seen in 10 patients (33.33%). A postseptal cellulitis (figure 2) was diagnosed in 14 patients (46.66%). A subperiosteal abscess was seen in 6 patients (20%) (figure 3). No cases of orbital abscess or cavernous sinus thrombosis were identified....

Computed tomography is essential for staging orbital cellulitis. In all cases, changes can be detected by CT scans either as a diffuse infiltration of the orbital fat or as a detachment of the periorbita (subperiosteal abscess) or a true orbital abscess. The use of the CT scan has significantly improved the accuracy of diagnosis and the speed of initiating proper treatment, surgical vs medical.

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