Abstract
The purpose of this study was to review the modern standard surgical methods for craniosynostosis (CS), define management problems for the near future and evaluate the long-term surgical outcomes of CS patients treated at the author's institution. A retrospective chart review of all patients who underwent traditional cranial vault remodeling or the cranial distraction method for CS was performed at the Saitama Children's Medical Center from August 1, 1984 to January 31, 2011.
One hundred thirty three patients were identified for the study, diagnoses included nonsyndromic CS (90 cases), syndromic CS (37 cases) and others (6 cases). Information regarding types of CS, operative methods, long-term surgical results and reoperation rates was analyzed. Long-term surgical results were graded according to the grading system reported by Wagner JD et al (1995), as follows ; grade I : 77 cases, grade II : 32 cases, grade III : 20 cases and deceased : 4 cases. Overall the reoperation rate in the 129 surviving cases with CS was 26%.
Cranial distraction procedures were applied to 31 cases with nonsyndromic or syndromic CS from October 1, 2000 to March 31, 2011. The advantages of using the cranial distraction procedure are that it offers a less invasive technique, shorter operation time and a small amount of bleeding. Long-term surgical results and reoperation rates of syndromic CS following the frontoorbital advancement were improved by using a cranial distraction procedure.
Cranial distraction procedures should be more readily applied allowing for these advantages to the surgical treatment of craniosynostosis.
