For non-syndromic craniosynostosis, surgical treatment is selected in the following cases : 1)the intracranial cavity is relatively narrow, and intracranial hypertension symptoms and mental development disorders are expected or 2)the skull and orbital morphology are significantly deformed due to craniosynostosis. In these cases, surgery is often performed by the age of 1-2 years.
We report the case of a 10-year-old girl with craniosynostosis. She had no head deformities or symptoms during infancy. However, she visited the hospital with the chief complaint of chronic headache after reaching school-age, and was diagnosed with craniosynostosis with intracranial hypertension. We performed cranioplasty (multi-directional cranial distraction osteogenesis)to increase her cranial volume. Her postoperative course was good and her chronic headache improved.
Similar to this patient, some patients with non-syndromic craniosynostosis may live to an old age without being diagnosed because of the absence of symptoms. However, there are no effective screening tests at present and a diagnosis can only be established after symptoms appear. Simple screening tests for non-syndromic craniosynostosis need to be developed, and it is essential that the patients undergo early detection, treatment, and separation of cranial sutures.
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