Trauma intracraneal penetrante trans-orbitario: anatomía relevante, las dinámicas del trauma y los puntos clavepara el tratamiento / Trans-orbital intracranial penetrating trauma: relevant anatomy, trauma dynamics and treatment key points

Las lesiones intracraneales penetrantes trans-orbitarias representan pocos casos de todos los Traumas Craneo-encefálicos, sin embargo, representan del 25 al 50 por ciento de todos los traumas penetrantes craneales. Este tipo de traumas trans-orbitarios se han reportado por diferentes tipos de objetos, incluyendo objetos de metal y de madera. Muchos de estos traumas intracraneales pueden pasar desapercibidos en casos donde el material que ingresa no queda expuesto posterior al trauma y cuando no se presenta lesión neurológica que requiera examinación exhaustiva adicional con neuro-imágenes.

Trans-orbital penetrating intracranial injuries represent few cases of all Traumatic Brain Injuries, although they represent between 25 to 50 percent of all penetrating brain injuries. Trans-orbital intracranial penetrating injuries have been reported caused by different types of objects, including metal and wooden objects. Many of these intracranial traumas can be dismissed, especially in those cases where the material is not exposed after the injury and there is no need of further examination with neuroimaging in absence of neurological deficit.

Clinical Manifestations and Prognosis of Convergence Insufficiency after Craniofacial Trauma

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical manifestation and prognosis of convergence insufficiency after craniofacial trauma. METHODS: Twelve patients injured by craniofacial trauma were analyzed for the cause of trauma, ocular and accompanied non-ocular symptoms, presence of loss of consciousness, presence of craniofacial fracture and intracranial hemorrhage, treatment modality for ocular symptoms, change in strabismic angle and near point of convergence (NPC) after treatment and prognosis using clinical records from April 2008 to December 2014. RESULTS: Traffic accidents (8 patients) were the leading cause of trauma. Near diplopia (11 patients) was the leading type of ocular symptom and other following symptoms included headache, asthenopia and reading difficulty. Ten patients experienced loss of consciousness and craniofacial fracture and intracranial hemorrhage were observed in 7 patients. Intracranial hemorrhage and craniofacial fracture occurred in 3 patients and only 1 patient had neither intracranial hemorrhage nor craniofacial fracture. All 12 patients performed orthoptic exercises, but no improvement of near strabismic angle, NPC and ocular symptoms was observed. However, 4 patients who received surgery demonstrated improvement in near strabismic angle, NPC and ocular symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Convergence insufficiency after craniofacial trauma occurred by relatively strong traumatic force and had a poor outcome in non-surgical methods such as orthoptic exercise. Surgery was an effective treatment method rather than orthoptic exercise.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Clinical Examination in Cervical Spine Injuries in Awake and Alert Blunt Trauma Patients

STUDY DESIGN: Observational, case series. PURPOSE: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of clinical judgment as compared to the use of X-ray images in detecting cervical spine injuries in trauma patients presenting in the emergency department of Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: Cross-table cervical spine views are important in patients with signs and symptoms relating to cervical spine, but asymptomatic patients constitute a different subgroup. Accuracy of clinical examination in these patients has not been subjected to scrutiny. METHODS: All patients with blunt trauma who presented to the emergency department and underwent cross-table X-rays as part of their trauma workup were included. The X-rays were read by a radiologist not aware of the history of the patients. We recorded demographic data along with mechanism of injury, associated neck signs or symptoms whether present or not, cervical spine range of motion, associated injuries and X-ray findings. The history and examination were carried out by the on-call neurosurgery team member. The sensitivity and specificity along with negative and positive predictive value of the clinical examination were calculated. Data were analyzed using SPSS ver. 16.0. RESULTS: Of 50 patients with positive signs and symptoms, 4 (8%) had positive X-rays while only 1 out of 324 (0.3%) with no associated signs and symptoms had positive X-ray findings. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical examination is 80% sensitive and 73.98% specific in detecting true cervical spine injuries as compared to C-spine X-rays in alert and awake patients with blunt trauma.