PROSPECTS CONCERNING DIAGNOSTICS AND THER APY OF ORBITAL DISEASES

New or prospectively promising developments in diagnostics and therapy of orbital diseases are presented. Essential improvement concerns com puterized tomography (finer stratification) and magnetic resonance tom ography (specific imaging methods like suppression of the orbital fat signal). Three dimensional reconstruction is particularly useful. Diag nostic of vascular processes is facilitated by color doppler imaging. The Doppler signal is superimposed in color over a conventional gray-s cale ultrasound image, thus giving additional information about blood flow in vessels. Application of endonasal surgery, which in ENT has be en developped to great perfection, enables different surgical interven tions, e. g. extraction of favourably positioned foreign bodies and de compressive procedures in Graves' disease. More precise and less side- effect-producing radiotherapy is permitted by a new procedure in which special plastic tubes are implanted, which tips are positioned as clo sely as possible to the area to be irradiated. Irradiation commences b y insertion of radioactive iridium into these tubes by a computer-cont rolled injection-device. As a prospect for near future the possibility of endoscopical orbital interventions, e.g. biopsies is to be mention ed.