Early management of sagittal synostosis with craniotomies and skull reshaping

Objective To discuss the early surgical treament of scaphocephaly deformity in sagittal synostosis.Methods The patients were placed in the modified prone position.Supraperiosteal dissection was performed extending from the glabella anteriorly to the posterior lip of the foramen magnum posteriorly.Craniotomies were performed to separate the bifrontal and biparietal-occipital frangments.The bifrontal and occipital frangments were reshaped after placement of radial osteotomies to correct the frotal and occipital prominence.Shortening of the anteroposterior length of the skull was accomplished by resecting a portion of the frontal and parietal bones at the midline.The narrowing of the skull was addressed by the "barrel stave" osteotomies of the low temporal and parietal regions and reshaping of lateral pieces of parietal bones.Results Scaphocephaly deformities of four patients were corrected.There were no complications happened in these patients.The post -operation results were kept well for 3 ～10 months follow -up.Conclusions Craniotomies and skull reshaping were proved to be effective to correct scaphocephaly deformity in sagittal synostosis.