Purpose: To describe mechanisms and injury characteristics influencing visual outcomes in eyes with open-globe injuries sustained in terrorist acts.
Design: Retrospective, interventional case series.
Methods: The charts of 260 consecutive patients (285 eyes) who had open-globe injury caused by terrorist attack and admitted to the tertiary referral center for military in Turkey between March 1991 and April 2001 were reviewed, and 50 patients (56 eyes) with complete data were evaluated for predicting visual outcome according to the Ocular Trauma Classification System (OTCS).
Results: The mean age of patients was 22.6 years, and the mean follow-up was 5.8 months. Seventeen patients (6.54%) had traumatic amputation in the extremities. Forty-eight eyes (16.84%) were enucleated. Type A, grade V, zone III, and RAPD-positive injuries were associated with unfavorable visual outcome. Land mine and hand grenade injuries had the worst outcome.
Conclusions: In terror-related open-globe injuries, unusual presentations and devastating visual results are common, and OTCS seems to predict visual outcomes.