Head Injuries & Orbital Fractures Flashcards
What is the Cribriform Plate?
Part of ethmoid bone, but located in the midline. It transmits CNI (Olfactory nerve). If it is damaged it can lead to CSF leak into the nasal cavity and to loss of smell.
What is a coup injury?
Direct blow to area of impact (closed head trauma)
What is a contrecoup injury?
Blow is to the opposite side (a counter blow; closed head trauma)
What is a cerebral contusion?
Both are focal injuries - a coup and contrecoup injury
What is whiplash? What are the symptoms?
A closed head injury caused by hyperextension and hyperflexion leading to ocular problems
Symptoms:
- Diplopia
- Seeing spots
- Objects receding
- CI
- Reduced accommodation
- Reduced pupil cycle time
What do we need to know for the case history in head injuries?
- History is like but not always
- May present immediately or late
- More likely to be male
- Facial injury; orbital/ocular injury
What is optic atrophy?
A form of optic neuropathy. There are 2 types:
- Direct Optic Neuropathy
Direct damage to optic nerve - Indirect Optic Neuropathy
Damage is non-penetrating such as haemorrhage or oedema (like in Grave’s where the swelling affects the ON)
What are the symptoms of optic atrophy?
- Severely reduced VA
- Pale optic disc
- RAPD
Can be unilateral or bilateral
What might we expect after a head injury?
Need to ask about what their vision was like pre-injury
- Neurogenic palsy
- Supranuclear palsy / skew deviation (3rd Year)
- Myogenic OM defect
- Orbital fracture
- Accommodation / convergence problem
- Weak / loss of suppression
- Weak / loss of fusion
- VF defect
- Damage to ON / globe / periocular structures
What can complicate the orthoptic management of a head injury?
- VA
- Loss of / weakened suppression
- Loss of / weakened fusion
incomitance - Torsion
- Vergence and accommodation defects
- Exophthalmos / enophthalmos
- VF defect
What conservative orthoptic management options do we have for treating head injuries and orbital fractures?
- Fresnel prisms
- Advice AHP / head movements
- Orthoptic exercises
- Occlusion - total / sector
- Bangerter foils / occlusive tape
- Refractive correction
What are the types of orbital injuries?
- Eyelid
- Periorbital
- Retrobulbar – will damage optic nerve if left untreated
- Direct damage to EOM
What types of globe injuries are there? Name some
- Corneal abrasion
- Hyphaema
- Lens Damage
- Choroid Rupture
- Subconjuctival Haemorrhage
- Penetrating Injury
- Retinal Detachment
- ON Damage
What are Le Fort fractures?
A way of classifying facial fractures. Le Fort I, II & III that describe commonly occurring lines of facial fracture.
I - No ophthalmic significance
II - Orbital rim & floor
Blow to mid / lower maxilla
Serious intracranial injury & death
III - Most ophthalmically relevant
Blow to nasal bridge / upper maxilla
Serious intracranial injury
What Le Fort Fracture is most ophthalmically relevant?
III
What is affected in Superior Orbital Fissure Syndrome?
CN III, IV, V or VI
= Palsy
What is affected in Orbital Apex Syndrome?
- CN II, III, IV, V or VI
- Central retinal artery & veins
- Proptosis
- Direct damage ON
What are the 5 types of bone fractures?
- Greenstick
- Transverse
- Comminuted
- Spiral
- Compound
What type of bone fracture is most common paediatrically?
Greenstick fractures in long bones
Orbital fractures are usually linear/transverse in children but in adults are comminuted
What type of fracture are children less likely to sustain? What ones are they more likely to damage? Why?
Less likely -
Orbital fracture
More likely -
Upper face & skull
Superior orbital fractures
Because of the development of their faces
What’s the most common cause of paediatric orbital fractures? Who does it affect the most?
Most common in sports injuries (Egbert et al., 2000)
Mean age of 12.5 years and 92% male (Hatton et al., 2001)
What are supra-orbital fractures and what are they caused by?
- Roof of orbit/superior orbital rim
- Less common amongst adults but more so in children
- Caused by direct blows to the frontal region (coup) or indirect blows to the base of skull (contre-coup)
What symptoms can supra-orbital fractures cause?
- Superior orbital oedema and haemorrhage
- Upper lid oedema
? Ptosis or swelling - SR / SO damage
- Trochlear damage
- Depression of supra-orbital rim (displacement of globe)
- Leakage of CSF (cribriform plate fracture)
- Infection (meningitis)