Unusual penetrating cranio-orbital injury by a cut-off wheel.

The rare case of a penetrating cranio-orbital injury and the surgical treatment is presented. A 38-year-old woman was brought to the Emergency Unit of the University of Leipzig Hospital after suffering a severe craniocerebral injury from a broken cut-off wheel. A computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated the entrance of the cut-off wheel with extension from the left sinus maxillaris and frontalis through the median part of the left-sided orbit to the anterior skull base. After removing the cut-off wheel and metal splinters, the neurosurgeon performed an osteoplastic bifrontobasal trepanation with revision of the wound channel. Three years later, the patient has no neurological deficit and the CT scan shows a small hypodensity behind the sinus frontalis on the left side.