Removal of Foreign Body Aided with Various Navigation Modalities: A Case Report and Literature Review

Background: Computerized surgical navigation (CSN) has many potential applications in foreign body (FB) removal. Case report: While playing, a 14-year-old girl was accidentally shot in the facial area with a shotgun. Removal of the superficial shots and of the left eyeball was performed at a local hospital. She was transferred to the West China Hospital of Stomatology (Sichuan, China) on the third day after the accident due to difficulties in removing the remaining shots. Except for left eye vision loss, there was no abnormal physical or laboratory test. Spiral computed tomography (CT) scan of the head was performed and data were imported into the iplan software of the VectorVision2 navigation system. A dynamic reference frame was fixed to the skull and another to the forceps. Eight shots were successfully removed. One shot could not be removed because of significant shifting. At 1 month, the incisions were successfully healed and there were no symptoms or signs. Conclusion: The case presented here and the relevant literature about CSN indicates that CSN is a valuable modality for the removal of FBs, not only in the craniomaxillofacial area, but anywhere in the body.