The standard radiographs

Foreign body in soft tissue

  • Two radiographs—angulated so that bone does not obscure the injured site.

Orbital foreign bodies

  • Two frontal projections: upward and downward gaze.

Alternative imaging to consider

Soft tissue foreign bodies

  • Superficial: sonography.

  • Deeply penetrating: CT or MRI.

Orbital foreign bodies

  • CT or MRI.

Regularly overlooked foreign bodies

  • Glass hidden by bone.

  • Deeply penetrating FBs.

Abbreviations

  • CT, computer tomography;

  • FB, foreign body;

  • MRI, magnetic resonance imaging;

  • PA, posterior-anterior.

Appearances on plain radiographs

Glass

All glass is radio-opaque. Visibility of glass is not dependent on its lead content .

The radiographic density of the different types of glass does vary. Imaging technique is important. A soft tissue exposure is essential.

Zooming on a digital image is often necessary, otherwise very small fragments are easily overlooked.

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