Diagnosis of Endophthalmitis and Orbital Abscess by Ultrasound: A Case Report

The diagnosis of ocular pathology by point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has been well established for entities such as retinal detachment, vitreous hemorrhage, posterior vitreous detachment, and lens dislocation.¹ However, the use of ultrasound to detect other conditions such as orbital abscess and endophthalmitis in the emergency setting is rarely reported.

We present a case in which POCUS was used to confirm the suspected diagnosis of endophthalmitis and orbital abscess. This case report will review the ultrasonographic findings of orbital abscess and endophthalmitis, as well as briefly discuss the literature for the use of ultrasound for these applications.

Point-of-care ultrasound can be used to rapidly diagnose infectious pathology of the eye and orbit, which could potentially decrease time to diagnosis and time to consultation of these vision-threatening pathologies.