Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 16, 2016; 4(10): 344-350
Published online Oct 16, 2016. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v4.i10.344
Surgeon-performed point-of-care ultrasound in severe eye trauma: Report of two cases
Fikri M Abu-Zidan, Korana Balac, Chetana Anand Bhatia
Fikri M Abu-Zidan, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al-Ain 17666, United Arab Emirates
Korana Balac, Chetana Anand Bhatia, Surgical Institute, Al-Ain Hospital, Al-Ain 1006, United Arab Emirates
Author contributions: Abu-Zidan FM was the treating surgeon of the second case, performed the point-of-care ultrasound studies for both cases, had the idea, reviewed the literature, wrote the first version of the paper, edited it, and approved its final version; Balac K was the treating surgeon of the first case, participated in the idea, and approved the final version of the paper; Bhatia CA was the treating ophthalmologist for the first case, participated in the idea, and approved the final version of the paper.
Institutional review board statement: N/A.
Informed consent statement: Both patients signed an informed consent form agreeing to the publication of these case reports.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None declared by all authors.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Fikri M Abu-Zidan, MD, FACS, FRCS, PhD, Dip Applied Statistics Professor, Acute Care Surgeon, Point-of-Care Sonographer, Statistical Consultant, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Tawam Street, P.O. Box 17666, Al-Ain 17666, United Arab Emirates. fabuzidan@uaeu.ac.ae
Telephone: +971-3-7137579 Fax: +971-3-7672067
Received: February 9, 2016
Peer-review started: February 9, 2016
First decision: May 19, 2016
Revised: June 29, 2016
Accepted: July 29, 2016
Article in press: August 1, 2016
Published online: October 16, 2016
Processing time: 247 Days and 19.9 Hours
Abstract

The indications of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in the management of multiple trauma patients have been expanding. Although computed tomography (CT) scan of the orbit remains the gold standard for imaging orbital trauma, ultrasound is a quick, safe, and portable tool that can be performed bedside. Here we report two patients who had severe eye injuries with major visual impairment where surgeon-performed POCUS was very useful. One had a foreign body injury while the other had blunt trauma. POCUS was done using a linear probe under sterile conditions with minimum pressure on the eyes. Ultrasound showed a foreign body at the back of the left eye globe touching the eye globe in the first patient, and was normal in the second patient. Workup using CT scan, fundsocopy, optical coherence tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging of the orbits confirmed these findings. The first patient had vitreous and sub retinal haemorrhage and a full thickness macular hole of the left eye, while the second had traumatic optic neuropathy. POCUS gave accurate information concerning severe eye injuries. Trauma surgeons and emergency physicians should be trained in performing ocular ultrasound for eye injuries.

Keywords: Eye; Injury; Trauma; Point-of-care; Ultrasound

Core tip: The indications of point-of-care ultrasound in the management of multiple trauma patients have been expanding. Here we report two patients who had severe eye injuries with visual impairment in whom surgeon-performed point-of-care ultrasound was accurate. Trauma surgeons and emergency physicians should be trained in performing ocular ultrasound for eye injuries.