Transorbital penetrating trauma caused by a fall on the antenna of a radio receiver: Case report and review

We report the case of a patient who died after falling on the antenna of a radio receiver that was stood on the floor. External examination showed an orificial contuse wound, less than a centimetre in diameter, on the right upper eyelid. There was no ocular lesion. Full-body CT (computed tomography) scan imagery revealed a fracture of the roof of the right orbit and diffuse intra and pericerebral haemorrhages. Those haemorrhages had caused the death of the patient. Penetrating transorbital traumas represent a very small part of cranial traumas and orbital pathologies. They are usually linked to the high-velocity traumas associated with traffic accidents or penetration by firearm projectiles. Low-energy penetrating transorbital traumas are even less frequent; associated prognoses are rarely lethal and generally functional. These traumas cause minimal palpebral or periocular wounds that can seem insignificant upon external forensic examination, especially when the foreign body involved is fully intracranial or absent. Performing a cerebral scan, or even post-mortem angiography, thus appears to be a key-procedure, very useful to the medical examiner.