Citation

Kuhn F, Morris R, Witherspoon CD, Mester V. J. Fr. Ophtalmol. 2004; 27(2): 206-210.

Affiliation

American Society of Ocular Trauma, Birmingham, USA. fkuhn@mindspring.com

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Masson Editeur)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15029055

Abstract

PURPOSE: To evaluate the international eye injury scene and design a standardized terminology for mechanical eye injuries. METHODS: Surveys of practicing ophthalmologists and an extensive review of the international ocular trauma literature. Development of the Birmingham Trauma Terminology (BETT) using a logic-based approach. RESULTS: BETT always uses the entire globe as the tissue of reference. Its well-defined terms encompass all types of mechanical eye injury. A one-to-one relationship exists between terms and clinical conditions. CONCLUSION: BETT provides an unambiguous, consistent, simple, and comprehensive system to describe any type of mechanical globe trauma. Endorsed by several societies and peer-reviewed journals as the standardized international language of ocular traumatology, BETT is expected to become the preferred terminology for categorizing eye injuries in daily clinical practice.

Language: en