Determination of the size of a foreign body in the eye using image analysis of its roentgenogram

The case of a computer-enhanced image analysis of X-ray pictures of a pellet in the orbit of a man who sustained a shotgun injury to his right eyeball is presented. The man was shot accidentally during a pheasant hunt. Two hunters were shooting simultaneously but they were using three different sizes of pellet-3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 mm. One of the pellets hit a third man in the eye. He sustained serious injury with a resultant loss of sight in this eye despite immediate medical treatment. Unfortunately the pellet could not be removed from the orbit, but it was necessary to establish who was responsible for the injury. The problem lay in determining the specification and size of the pellet at that moment. The problem was solved using computer-enhanced video image analysis of the X-ray pictures of the pellets. The image processor LUCIA G (http//www.lim.cz) was used.