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Dr. Strauch’s Bio | Q&A Archive
Craniectomy; Synostectomy; Strip craniectomy; Endoscopy-assisted craniectomy; Sagittal craniectomy; Frontal-orbital advancement; FOA
Craniosynostosis repair is surgery to fix damage caused by a birth defect that makes the bones in a childâ ' s skull grow together too early.
A baby's head, or skull, is made up of many different bones. The connections between these bones are called sutures. When a baby is born, it is normal for these sutures to be open a little. This gives the babyâ ' s brain and head room to grow.
Your baby was born with craniosynostosis, a condition that caused 1 or more of your babyâ ' s sutures to close too early. This can cause the shape of your babyâ ' s head to be different than normal. Sometimes it can cause brain damage.
An x-ray or computed tomography (CT scan) can be used to diagnose craniosynostosis. Surgery is usually needed to correct it. This surgery is performed in the operating room under general anesthesia (your child will be asleep and will not feel pain).
Traditional surgery is called open repair. It includes these steps:
Surgery usually takes 3 to 7 hours. Your child will probably need to have a blood transfusion during or after surgery to replace blood that is lost during the surgery.
A newer kind of surgery is used for some children. This type is usually done for children younger than 3 to 6 months old.
Children do best when they have this surgery when they are 3 months old. The surgery should be done before the child is 6 months old
Surgery frees the sutures that are fused. It also reshapes the brow, eye sockets, and skull as needed. The goals of surgery are:
Kanev PM. Congenital malformations of the skull and meninges. Otolaryngol Clin North Am. 2007 Feb;40(1):9-26, v.
Baskin JZ, Tatum III, SA. Craniofacial surgery for congenital and acquired deforminities. In: Cummings CW, Flint PW, Haughey BH, et al, eds. Otolaryngology: Head & Neck Surgery. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Mosby Elsevier; 2005:chap 175.