Traditional radiography, ultrasonography (US), computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and fluoroscopy are different diagnostic tools used to locate FBs.

The patient’s medical history and clinical and radiological examinations are essential for diagnosing and localizing the FB. Moreover, sharp FBs may migrate over time towards vital structures, leading to severe complications.

Blind exploration can further damage the tissue and push the FBs deeper into the fascial planes. Therefore, precise diagnosis and localization of FBs are of utmost importance due to the complex anatomical features of the maxillofacial and neck regions. Īccurate localization of foreign bodies (FBs) is crucial, especially when they are located in critical areas such as near large vessels and the removal procedure poses a high risk to the patient’s safety. To prevent complications, it is crucial to detect and remove FBs as soon as possible. In some cases, FBs may even lead to severe complications like intracranial abscesses. In addition, inflammatory reactions and the development of granulomas can impede wound healing. These FBs can cause irritation, inflammation, infection, abscess formation, pain, swelling, migration, and potential damage to blood vessels or nerves. This oversight can give rise to substantial complications. Numerous studies have indicated that around one-third of all FBs go unnoticed initially, often being discovered incidentally on radiographs. Commonly encountered FBs include wood, glass, plastic, or retained metals. FBs are defined as anything that comes from outside the body. This study demonstrates that a radiographic grid with mark points is a more efficient approach compared with traditional methods for FBs removal, and this surgical method is more accurate, fast and noninvasive.įoreign bodies (FBs) are the most common accompanying injury in patients with maxillofacial trauma. Through comparison, it was found that the degree of swelling on day 2 postoperatively was significantly different between the grid group and the non-grid group ( P < 0.05). And the FBs were surgically removed with no postoperative complications. In the present cases in this report, of the 20 patients’ FBs, 14 were metal, 5 were glass, and 1 was residual root. The average time of operation was 1.85 ± 0.66 h (range 0.7 to 3.2). The study sample consisted of 20 patients, with 14 males (70%) and 6 females (30%), who had an average age of 30.30 ± 5.38. The variables were analyzed using the Student t test and a repeated-measures general linear model. The assessment of facial swelling, the primary indicator, was conducted on days 2 and 7 post-surgery. All patients who met the inclusion criteria and attended the Hospital of Stomatology of China Medical University from January 2022 to June 2023 were enrolled and randomly divided into grid and non-grid groups. This work designed a retrospective study to evaluate the effect of a radiographic grid on FBs removal surgery. This work presents a new noninvasive technique for subcutaneous metallic FBs under a radiographic grid, a system that simplifies the localization of facial FBs removal using a grid with embedded reference points. The accurate localization of the foreign bodies (FBs) is essential.

Radiography grid types