Spiral CT of an orbital venous malformation.

Although spiral computed tomography (CT) has certain advantages in other anatomic sites, particularly the thorax (1), abdomen (2, 3), and larynx (4), its advantages over conventional CT imaging in the orbit have been shown in only several clinical scenarios. Use of spiral CT in pediatric craniocervical imaging has been reported recently, with the advantages of shorter scanning time, less motion artifact, and the need for less sedation and intravenous contrast material (5). In addition, we have used spiral CT in cases of severe orbital trauma in which the patient was either unconscious or wearing a cervical collar, in order to minimize the time needed for a complete scan and obtain acceptable coronal reformatting from direct axial imaging. The patient we describe here presented with clinical characteristics for which spiral CT could be optimally used to maximize the radiographic appearance of an orbital venous malformation.