In the timeframe analysed, 1227 patients were evaluated for orbital trauma and only 528 fulfilled the study’s inclusion criteria. The sample examined included 352 males (66.67%) and 176 females (33.33%), with an average age of 41.5 years and a range of 13-88 years. The most frequent cause of trauma was road accident (n.200, 37.88%), followed by domestic accidents (n.137, 25.95%), interpersonal violence (n.91, 17.23%), sports injuries (n.55, 10.42%) and work accidents (n.18, 3.41%). In a few cases, it was not possible to trace the aetiology of the trauma (27 cases, 5.11%). Analyzing the correlation between gender and the mechanism of injury, road accidents were the most common cause of fracture in men (n.116, 32.95%), while domestic accidents were in women (n.80, 45.45%). The other mechanisms of injury based on gender are specified in Image 1.
In most cases patients presented pure orbital fractures, in 401 cases (75.95%); only in 127 cases (24.05%) patients presented impure orbital fractures. Of all pure orbital fractures (401 cases, 75.95%), 276 patients were affected by pure blow-out fractures (68.83%), 114 patients were affected by both blow-out and medial orbit wall fractures (28.68%), and 11 patients were affected by trap-door fractures (2.74%). Of all impure orbital fractures (127 cases, 24.05%), 18 cases (13.79%) were associated with Orbito-Maxillo-Zygomatic (OMZ) complex fractures and 11 cases (8.62%) were associated with the pan facial fracas. Data relating to the type of orbital fractures are summarized in Table 2.
Table 2: Orbital fracture pattern
Pure Orbital Fractures
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Impure Orbital Fractures
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Blow-out Fractures
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Fractures of the floor and medial wall of the orbit
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Trap-door Fractures
|
Orbital Fractures + OMZ complex fractures
|
Orbital Fractures in Pan Facial Fracas
|
276 patients (69.83%)
|
114 patients (28.68%)
|
11 patients (2.74%)
|
78 patients (61.42%)
|
49 patients (38.58%)
|
214 (%): Moderate grade according to Harris classification
176 (%): Severe grade according to Harris classification
|
401 patients
|
127 patients
|
The main signs and symptoms at diagnosis were periorbital oedema (n.464, 87.88%), diplopia (n.382, 72.35%), enophthalmos (n.218, 41.29%), hypoaesthesia of the infraorbital nerve (n.282, 53.41%), extrinsic eye movement limitation (n.273, 51.70%). The presence of diplopia, enophthalmos, hypoaesthesia, and/or extrinsic eye movement limitation determined the indication for surgical treatment. Considering the CT morphologic parameters, the anterior-medial portion of the orbital floor was the most affected, followed by the posterior-lateral portion.
On the coronal sections, the medial portion of the orbital floor was the most affected (144 cases, 52%), followed by the lateral portion (99 cases, 36%) and the whole floor (33 cases, 12%).
On the sagittal sections, the anterior portion of the orbital floor was the most affected (182 cases, 66%), followed by the rear portion (66 cases, 24%) and the whole floor (28 cases, 10%).
Considering the severity of the orbital floor fracture: 509 patients (96.55%) presented herniation of orbital fat into the below maxillary sinus, 273 patients (51.72%) presented herniation of the lower rectus muscle into the below maxillary sinus below, 237 patients (44.83%) presented an involvement of the infraorbital canal by the fracture rhyme, and 18 patients (3.45%) presented a lower rectus muscle entrapment.
Regarding the surgical approach, sub-ciliary access is the most employed (419 cases, 79.36%), followed by sub-eyelid access (109 cases, 20.64%). Thirty-six patients operated through sub-ciliary access (8.59%) have reported retraction of the lower eyelid while none of the patients operated through sub-eyelid access has gone through this type of complication. The orbital wall was reconstructed using different implants (Image 2), including intraoperative bending of titanium mesh (n.291 55.11%), preformed titanium mesh (n.164, 31.06%), patient-specific titanium mesh (n.38, 7.20%), absorbable membrane type Tutopatch® (n.34, 6.63%).
Postoperative complications occurred mainly in impure blow-out fractures (where the orbit's floor and medial wall are associated). In the first two weeks after surgery, a low degree of resolution of short-term diplopia was found, regardless of the severity of the fracture pattern. Two weeks after surgery, 124 patients with pure blow-out fractures (44.93%) had diplopia, and 39 patients with impure blow-out fractures (34.21%). Three months after surgery, diplopia was persistent in 52 patients with pure blow-out fractures (18.84%) and 24 patients with impure blow-out fractures (21.05%). This reversal has increased over time, in fact,6 months after surgery, long-term postoperative diplopia was recorded in 36 patients with pure blow-out fractures (13.04%) and 18 patients with impure blow-out fractures (15.79%).
Data on pre-operative and post-operative diplopia are explained in Table 3.
Table 3: Pre- and post-operative diplopia depending on the type of Blow-out fractures.
|
Preoperative entrapment of the lower rectus muscle
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Preoperative Diplopia
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Postoperative Diplopia: 2 weeks after surgery
|
Postoperative Diplopia:
3 months after surgery
|
Postoperative Diplopia:
6 months after surgery
|
Pure Blow-out
|
249
|
290
|
124
|
52
|
36
|
Impure Blow-out
|
24
|
92
|
39
|
24
|
18
|
A statistically significant correlation was found between the amount of lower rectus muscle herniation, visible at CT scans, and the presence of pre-operative (p-value = 0.00416) and postoperative (p-value = 0.00385) diplopia. Moreover, in the impure blow-out fractures, a statistically significant correlation has been observed between the presence of short-term diplopia and its long-term persistence (p-value = 0.00513).
Long-term postoperative enophthalmos was recorded in 9 patients (3.23%) with isolated blow-out fractures and 18 (15.38%) with concurrent floor and medial wall orbit fractures.
Other long-term postoperative complications were less frequently detected: eyelid retraction (n.5; 8.62%), ectropion (n.2; 3.45%), lagophthalmos (n.2; 3.45%), ptosis (n.1; 1.72%), exophthalmos (n.1; 1.72%). Postoperative diplopia, restriction of extrinsic long-term eye movements, hypoesthesia and enophthalmos were also evaluated about the timing of the surgery. These data are shown in Table 4.
Table 4: Post-operative complications of surgical timing.
Timing of surgery
|
Group A: Patients treated within 15 days
409 (77.46 %)
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Group B: Patients treated after 15 days
119 (22.54%)
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Diplopia
|
63 patients (15.40 %)
|
27 patients (22.68 %)
|
Extrinsic eye movements limitation
|
31 patients (7.58 %)
|
16 patients (13.20 %)
|
Hypoesthesia
|
99 patients (24.20 %)
|
27 patients (22.69 %)
|
Enophthalmos
|
54 patients (13.20 %)
|
9 patients (7.56 %)
|
Total
|
247 patients (60.39 %)
|
79 patients (66.39 %)
|