Radiologic evaluation of an intraorbital gun-shot bullet

Beside conventional X-ray examination, ultrasound and computer tomographic examination are accepted radiologic techniques to assess the extend of damage of intraorbital injuries. With the exception of a few reports in the literature there is agreement that intraorbital metallic foreign bodies and gun-shot bullets represent a contraindication for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging examination because of artificial imaging side effects and the potential of secondary dislocation of the metallic foreign body due to ferromagnetism. By means of the case reported here it is shown that this general opinion is not universally valid. Depending on the elemental metallic composition of foreign bodies and gun-shot bullets it is demonstrated that MR examination allows high-resolution illustration and in some cases is advantageous compared with other radiologic imaging techniques. (orig.)