Orbital imaging: a pattern-based approach

Providing a concise and relevant differential diagnosis for clinicians who order imaging studies can be difficult for the interpreting radiologist. In evaluation of cross-sectional imaging studies of the orbit, the myriad disease processes that occur in the orbit have overlapping features both clinically and at imaging. Disease entities can be categorized into a small set of relatively distinct patterns. In conjunction with careful consideration of the clinical history, a pattern-based approach to the interpretation of cross-sectional imaging studies of the orbit can help the radiologist provide a list of possible causes for the computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging findings.