Retained intra-orbital shotgun cartridge.

A 45-year-old man under the influence of alcohol sustained a gunshot wound to the right eye. The mechanism of the trauma was unclear. Radiography revealed the image of a shotgun cartridge in the right orbit. The patient underwent surgical removal of the foreign body and enucleation of the right eye. A wide range of unusual orbital foreign bodies have been reported in the literature. These might be classified as organic or nonorganic intraorbital foreign bodies. We report a peculiar case of a shotgun cartridge retained in the orbit after an unclear history of ocular trauma with a homemade shotgun. To our knowledge, there are no previous reports of orbital foreign bodies of this kind. CASE REPORT A 45-year-old man under the influence of alcohol was brought to the emergency room with gunshot trauma to the right eye. Upon admission, he was unable to give a clear history about the mechanism of the trauma. On examination, the patient’s neurologic examination was normal except for the right eye. The visual acuity was no light perception OD and 20/20 OS. There was laceration of the upper and lower eyelids compromising the medial canthus and the lacrimal duct of the right eye. Severe chemosis was documented, and no other structures of the globe were visible under examination. Lateral and antero-posterior projections of cranial radiography (Fig. 1) and CT were performed. An image resembling a shotgun cartridge was documented in both studies; however, the foreign body produced too many artifacts on the CT scan. The patient underwent surgical removal of the foreign body. During surgery, remnants of the globe were found, and enucleation was performed. The palpebral and lacrimal lacerations were repaired. The patient was discharged after completing a 5-day cycle of systemic antibiotic. To date, there has no been follow-