Crouzon Sydrome: Treatment
Skull Surgery:
I believe that we have developed some innovative techniques at our center
that have improved both the safety and the results of skull surgery. All
children undergo evaluation by the appropriate members of the craniofacial
team (craniofacial surgeon, pediatric neurosurgeon, anthropologist, geneticist,
psychologist, neuroradiologist, craniofacial nurse coordinator, a speech
pathologist, and social worker if needed) prior to deciding on surgical
treatment. Usually, the first operation a child with Crouzon syndrome
undergoes is a procedure to enlarge the skull (also called cranial vault
remodeling). In general, surgery is performed before the child reaches
a year of age. As the infant gets bigger, there is a decreasing likelihood
that a blood transfusion will be necessary during the operative procedure;
therefore, surgery before 12 weeks of age is uncommon unless the deformity
is quite severe. At our center, we routinely give children erythropoietin
before surgery to raise the child's blood levels sufficient to hopefully
prevent the need for blood transfusions (see
[ ], See About Procrit). We also use a "cell-saver" to recycle some of the blood that
is lost at surgery, so that it can be given back to the child (see
[ ]). Using this combination of techniques, most children do not
require any blood transfusions.
At our center, operations on the skull are always performed with both
a pediatric neurosurgeon and craniofacial surgeon present for the entire
procedure. I believe that having two experienced surgeons present at all
times improves the speed and safety of the operation. In addition, only
pediatric anesthesiologist's with extensive craniofacial surgical experience
are used. The family is given hourly updates as to their child's condition
during the operation. Typically, skull surgery takes about four hours.
We do not shave any hair for surgery, although many centers still prefer
to do so. The skull is reached through an incision that extends from ear
to ear across the top of the head. Many years ago, I changed the typical
straight-line incision to a wavy, "zigzag" incision. I developed this
wavy pattern incision because I noted that when children get their hair
wet, it parts on a straight-line scar (see
[ ]). Making the incision in a wavy pattern helps to better hide
the scar, and many other craniofacial surgeons have now adopted this technique.
The purpose of the surgery is to remove the areas of skull that were
affected by the fused suture and reposition the skull forward to allow
the brain to grow. The techniques used to achieve this goal will vary
from surgeon to surgeon. We base the decision on how to rebuild the skull
on a number of factors: we rely on the CT Scans with 3-dimensional reconstructions,
measurements made by our anthropologist, photographs that are blown up
to life-size (and we sometimes may even use a medical artist who traces
over the life-size photographs and using tenets of art makes suggestion
for surgical movements), and finally we rely on our own aesthetic judgment.
Surgeons use various techniques to hold the skull bones in place after
moving them into position. We have previously reported our findings concerning
the use of metal plates and screws to hold the skull bones together at
the end of the operation. We found that when metal plates and screws were
used, with subsequent growth of the skull, these plates will end up on
the inside of the skull with the screws poking into the brain (see
[ ]). While I am not aware of any case in which this has
caused a problem I, nevertheless, have chosen to use dissolving stitches
to put the bones together instead of metal plates (see
[ ]).
With this technique, when the child grows up nothing artificial will be
left behind. Fairly recently, dissolving plates and screws have been developed
for use in the skull and facial bones. Although I occasionally find that
dissolving plates are useful, it is my preference not to use them for
a number of reasons, including the finding that they can end up inside
the skull in growing infants. For a short time I evaluated using distraction
devices with skull surgery, with the hope of being able to move the skull
bones further forward. However, I found the results with skull distraction
were not sufficiently positive to compensate for the additional surgery
required with the distraction technique, and the complication rates were
also higher with skull distraction. Therefore, I do not currently recommend
this technique.
At the end of the operation, we close the scalp with dissolving stitches.
We never use metal staples, as these can hurt when they are removed. We
also do not put any bandages on the child. Instead the child is given
a shampoo before we leave the room and the hair is combed over the incision.
Many surgeons do like to use head wrap bandages. We do not think that
this is wrong; we simply believe that these bandages are unnecessary.
The child usually will spend one night in the pediatric intensive care
unit and is transferred to the floor the following day. The child usually
spends a total of 48-72 hours in the hospital. The risks of the surgery
are very small at experienced centers. In a recent published report (see
[ ]) looking at our center and another center's combined experience,
no infections were noted in infants undergoing operations for the first
time (however, it is possible for a infant to get an infection).
When this type of operation is performed on older children, they tell
us that there is very little discomfort associated with this operation.
Nevertheless, we have recently instituted the policy of playing soft music
in the child's room after surgery. Soft music has been shown to decrease
the amount of pain medicine that a child requires after an operation.
Children with Crouzon syndrome usually need two to three operations
on their skull over a lifetime. It is very important that children be
followed closely to monitor for raised intracranial pressure until early
teenage years. In addition, we also monitor for cerebellar tonsillar herniation
and enlarging ventricles.
Other Crouzon Syndrome Treatments:
Treating Sleep Apnea
| Midface Surgery
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