Maggot therapy following orbital exenteration
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
- Adrian Gericke, MD, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Mainz, Langenbeckstrasse 1, 55101 Mainz, Germany; adrian.gericke{at}gmx.net
- Accepted 22 February 2007
Orbital exenteration is a radical surgery reserved for the treatment of locally invasive or potentially life-threatening orbital tumours.1 Complications occur after 20–25% of exenterations and include tissue necrosis (6%) and infection (3–4%).2–4 In the present report, we describe the management of a post-exenteration orbital infection by the use of maggots.
Case report
An 82-year-old multimorbid man presented with a fist-sized painless tumour of the left orbit (fig 1A). Computed tomography demonstrated an orbital mass clearly demarcated from the surrounding tissue (fig 1B). After biopsy, the neoplasm was classified as a borderline-malignant extrapleural solitary fibrous tumour. Therefore, a total orbital exenteration was performed, and the wound was left open to …
