In orbital floor fractures, the estimation of the herniated orbital content in the maxillary sinus has traditionally been the dividing line between surgical and nonsurgical management. In this study, we evaluated whether a relative change in volume would function as an indicator for surgical versus nonsurgical treatment of orbital floor fractures. This was a follow-up study in patients with untreated unilateral isolated orbital floor fractures admitted to our department from March 2003 to April 2007. Patients were contacted by regular mail and invited to have a clinical eye examination. The volume of the orbital content was calculated digitally from the patients' computed tomography scans at the time of their injury. Eighteen subjects with no facial skeleton fracture were included for reference of orbital content volumes. Five of 23 patients showed 2 to 4 mm of enophthalmos, and only three of them had intermittent diplopia. No statistical correlation was found between the herniated volume and enophthalmos. No statistical correlation supporting the supposition that 1 mL of herniated orbital content would result in 1 mm of enophthalmos was found. The relative volume change between the fractured and nonfractured orbit in an individual does not appear to be a useful criterion for surgery. The importance of the herniated orbital tissue for the development of enophthalmos is unclear.

Despite extensive debate and publications in the management of blowout fracture (BOF), there are still considerable differences in the surgeons’ management of BOF due to a lack of reliable evidence-based studies. This article aimed to evaluate which BOF patients require surgical treatment due to functional and/or cosmetic deformities; evaluate which computed tomography (CT) scan findings predict these problems; and provide an algorithm in the management of BOF. Seventy-nine patients with BOF were treated conservatively and followed up prospectively regarding functional and cosmetic deformities for at least 1 year. The patients’ CT scans were analyzed and several measurements were performed. Patients’ symptoms and the clinical findings were correlated to the CT scan measurements. We found visible deformity in 37% of the patients, but only 10% chose to proceed to surgery due to cosmetic deformities. In patients with inferior BOF and a herniation < 1.0 mL, a visible deformity was found when the ratio between fracture and the fractured orbital wall areas was ≥42%, or the total area of the fracture was ≥ 2.3 cm2. In patients with inferior BOF and a herniation ≥ 1.0 mL, a visible deformity was found when the distance from the inferior orbital rim to the posterior edge of the fracture was ≥ 3.0 cm. In patients with inferomedial fracture, a visible deformity was found when the herniation was ≥ 0.9 mL. Diplopia improved significantly and remained in only 3% of the patients in nonoperated group. Hypoesthesia of the infraorbital nerve improved significantly, but 23% of the nonoperated and 50% of the operated patients still experienced loss of sensation at final control. In this prospective study, we found that not only herniated orbital volume but also other CT scan findings in BOF were crucial to predict late visible deformities. Based on these findings, we propose an algorithm for the prediction of late visible deformity with 83% accuracy. There are indications that diplopia without ocular motility disorder is due to edema and we recommend observation as long as the diplopia improves gradually.

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This is the first comprehensive profile of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) mutations and their corresponding haplotypes in the Iranian population. All of the 27 CFTR exons of 60 unrelated Iranian CF patients were sequenced to identify diseasecausing mutations. Eleven core haplotypes of CFTR were identified by genotyping six high-frequency simple nucleotide polymorphisms. The carrier frequency of 2.5 in 100 (1 in 40) was estimated from the frequency of heterozygous patients and suggests that contrary to popular belief, cystic fibrosis may be a common, underdiagnosed disease in Iran. A heterogeneous mutation spectrum was observed at the CFTR locus in 60 cystic fibrosis (CF) patients from Iran. Twenty putative disease-causing mutations were identified on 64 (53%) of the 120 chromosomes. The five most common Iranian mutations together represented 37% of the expected mutated alleles. The most frequent mutation, ⌬F508 (p.F508del), represented only 16% of the expected mutated alleles. The next most frequent mutations were c.1677del2 (p.515fs) at 7.5%, c.4041C>G (p.N1303K) at 5.6%, c.2183AA>G (p.684fs) at 5%, and c.3661A>T (p.K1177X) at 2.5%. Three of the five most frequent Iranian mutations are not included in a commonly used panel of CF mutations, underscoring the importance of identifying geographic-specific mutations in this population.