Cranial injury from unsuspected penetrating orbital trauma: a review of five cases.

Penetrating orbital-cranial injury is potentially life threatening. The history of the trauma and ophthalmologic examination may be misleadingly innocent; serious injury may be overlooked. We present five cases of orbital injury in which the diagnosis of intracranial extension was not obvious at the time of initial examination. A thorough history and physical examination should be performed on all patients, even those with apparently trivial injuries. Intracranial extension should be considered in any case where the injury was caused by an instrument small enough to enter the orbit. The threshold for obtaining a coronal CT scan of the orbits should be lowered, since this is the best way to detect an orbital roof fracture.