Type:
Educational Exhibit
Keywords:
Emergency, Head and neck, CT, Complications, Education, Acute, Trauma
Authors:
A. Salwa, P. Klimeczek; Cracow/PL
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2018/C-0620
Background
Fractures of the orbit account for 10 to 25% of all cases of facial fractures and are most commonly seen in conjunction with assaults and motor vehicle accidents.
They deserve special consideration because surgical or observational management may result in compromise to vision.
Orbital fractures can occur in isolation,
but they are also commonly associated with other maxillofacial injures involve the orbit,
like Le Fort II and III fractures,
zygomaticomaxillary complex (ZMC) fractures,
and nasoorbitoethmoid (NOE) fractures.
Most surgeons describe the orbital fracture according to the location within the orbit (floor,
medial wall,
lateral wall,
and roof).
The anterior portion of orbital walls,
the orbital rim,
is formed by thick cortical bone that provides a stable buttress for the facial skeleton.
Every wall varies in thickness and the thinnest walls are the medial (lamina papyracea) and orbital floor,
so there most common fracture occurs.
Although the medial wall has the thinnest bone,
a buttressing effect of the ethmoid sinus laminas makes the orbital floor more exposed to fractures.
The orbital roof fractures are the least common,
due to the thicker bone and the proximity of the frontal sinus.
The lateral wall is thick and supported by the temporalis muscle so the fractures are less common.