Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Balzano, Rosario Francesco F.
• Testini, Valentina
• Cammarota, Aldo
• Guglielmi, Giuseppe

Titel

Unilateral isolated fracture of the pterygoid plate: a case report

Ist Teil von

• Digital diagnostics, 2022-04, Vol.3 (1), p.71-77

Ort / Verlag

Eco-Vector

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Pterygoid plate fractures are often associated with Le Fort fractures and accompanied by other facial fractures such as frontal sinus and naso-orbital-ethmoid fractures; isolated pterygoid plate fractures are extremely rare. Le Fort fractures must be surgically treated with fixation of unstable fracture segments to re-establish bone form and function, and the pterygoid process must be surgically stabilized; however, surgical treatment is unnecessary in isolated pterygoid plate fractures. Here, we report a rare case of isolated unilateral fracture of the pterygoid process in a 71-year-old female patient who had a syncopal episode with secondary head injury and a hematoma at the base of the right orbit. A computed tomography scan showed unilateral right pterygoid plate fracture with signs of emphysema in the ipsilateral masticatory space. The patient also had a fracture of the medial wall of the right maxillary sinus with hemosine, but no fractures of the skull base or theca. She was treated conservatively.