Sagittal suture synostosis
Van Veelen MC, Kamst N, Touw C, Mauff K, Versnel S, Dammers R, de Jong THR, Prasad V, Mathijssen IM.
Plast Reconstr Surg. 2018 Feb;141(2):423-433.
The results of the first 83 patients with sagittal suture synostosis, treated with spring distraction, are reported. 19% required blood transfusion, complications were minor, papilledema (a sign of raised pressure) occurred in 2.4% during follow-up. Head growth (measured by head circumference) initially increased after the surgery and declined during follow-up to 0.7 SD, which is comparable to results of other surgical techniques for sagittal synostosis. Conclusion: spring-assisted treatment is safe and effective and has similar results to other techniques but smaller scars, less blood transfusion and a lower number of papilledema in follow-up.
Effect of Presurgical Positioning on Skull Shape in Sagittal Suture Synostosis.
van Veelen ML, Bredero HH, Dirven CM, Mathijssen IM.
J Craniofac Surg. 2015 Sep;26(6):2012-4
The authors show that advising parents to place their child lying on the back of their head, significantly improves the head shape by reducing the occipital bullet.
Sofos SS, Robertson B, Duncan C, Sinha A.
J Craniofac Surg. 2017 Jul;28(5):1334-1336.
A rare case of a 4-year-old boy is presented who has untreated sagittal synostosis and raised intracranial pressure and Chiari malformation (a too low position of parts of the cerebellum) with syringomyelia (an abnormal collection of cerebrospinal fluid within the myelum).
Metopic suture synostosis
Very Low Prevalence of Intracranial Hypertension in Trigonocephaly.
Cornelissen MJ, Loudon SE, van Doorn FE, Muller RP, van Veelen MC, Mathijssen IM.
Plast Reconstr Surg. 2017 Jan;139(1):97e-104e.
All 262 children with metopic suture synostosis born between 2001 and 2013, that were operated at the Erasmus MC Rotterdam were included. During a follow-up period of nearly 5 years after surgery, the children were screened frequently for signs of raised intracranial pressure by fundoscopy, combined with measurements of skull growth. In this period, only 1.5% of children developed papilledema and 9% had a stagnation of skull growth: these two findings were significantly related to each other. The authors suggest that routine measurements of the skull circumference should be undertaken, and additional screening should be done in case of a decline of the skull growth curve.
Cornelissen MJ, Söfteland M, Apon I, Ladfors L, Mathijssen IMJ, Cohen-Overbeek TE, Bonsel GJ, Kölby L.
J Craniomaxillofac Surg. 2017 Nov;45(11):1809-1814.
This combined study from Sweden and the Netherlands reports on delivery complications in 272 children with sagittal, 152 children with metopic suture synostosis, compared to 1.954.141 children born without craniosynostosis. The rate of assisted reproductive technology (such as IVF, IUI, ICSI) was 7% in sagittal synostosis, 13% in metopic synostosis, and 3% in controls. Sagittal synostosis resulted in more late births (>42 weeks of gestation) while metopic synostosis is related to more early births (<37 weeks of gestation), breech position and induced labor. The rate of assisted delivery, such as cesarean section, was significantly higher in both sagittal and metopic synostosis.